Plae Kao

Plae Kao (The Scar)
The Thai film poster.
Directed by	Cherd Songsri
Starring	Sorapong Chatree Nantana Ngaograjang
Distributed by	Cherdchai Production
Release date	1977
Country	Thailand
Language	Thai

Plae Kao (Thai: แผลเก่า; rtgs: Phlae Kao; literally Old Wound) is a 1977 Thai romance-drama film directed by Cherd Songsri and starring Sorapong Chatree and Nantana Ngaograjang as two peasants in rural Thailand in a tragic, romantic relationship. The film is also known as simply The Scar.

The film was one of the biggest box-office hits in Thailand at the time. It gained international recognition at the 1981 Nantes Three Continents Festival, where it won the Golden Montgolfiere, sharing it with They Don't Wear Black Tie by Brazilian director Leon Hirszman. It was also voted as one of the world's 360 classic movies by the Museum of the Moving Image in London, Sight & Sound magazine and film directors and critics worldwide in 1998. It was remade in 2002 in Thailand as Kwan-Riam.

Cherd produced the film with the idea of showing it worldwide. The film's poster was designed by Chuang Moolpinit.

"When I produced Plae Kao, I used the slogan 'We must show Thai traditional style to the world'," Cherd told the Thai website Movieseer. "This produced a great deal of negative sentiment towards the picture, because some people believe that this is not a topic to be shown on film. I am a stubborn person though, and once I set my mind to including this in my films, well it's been in every film I have ever made. The press is always asking me when I will make a contemporary film, but now, no one is asking."

The story is based on the novel of the same name by Mai Muengderm.

In 1936 in rural Bang Kapi, at the time nothing but rice paddies and small farming villages, Kwan and Riam are the son and daughter of rival village chiefs. They both work in the rice fields with their water buffaloes. Riam at first resists the courtship of Kwan, but Kwan, a jolly young man who sings and plays bamboo flute, is persistent. Kwan pleads with Riam, telling her he wants to die in the river if he doesn't have her love. Riam gives in to Kwan's charms and the two pledge their love for each other at a spirit shrine on an island in the river.