At the height of the American bombing of Laos during the Vietnam war, when bombs were falling indiscrimanately everywhere, a couple of hundred people headed off into the jungle. They ended up on the Chinese border in NE Laos, and have lived there since, larely cut off from the rest of the world.
But now something truly remarkable is happening in this remote village, through the help of an NGO (Electricty Without Borders) and their own labour power they are installing hydro-electricity into the village. This will change many things, because at present they are living and the students are studying by torchlight.
It is a big effort to set up the hydro-electric turbine, and bring electricity through the jungle to the village, and everyone must play their part. But it may be the jungle spirits are angry, and a few deaths occur, delaying the work. Eventually though through the sweat of their brow electricity does arrive—but only for some, so not everyone is happy.
The team return three months later, only to find the village, by themselves, have set up a second turbine and most everyone has electricity. This might seem like a blessing, but with lecy comes late night full-blast music, which is upsetting some. TV has also arrived, and now the youth no longer like Laos music, but want to listen to Thai music. Arranged marriages make the lucky couple unhappy, because they found out about “love marriages”, and so it goes.
This is a truly remarkable film which traces all these events, and helps us understand that when you import electricity into a community, that isn’t all you get.
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