Anna and the King

So you have seen the movie The King and I at least a hundred times. And because of that, you do not want to go to see Anna and the King. After all, it must be the same old story. If this is your thinking, you are missing a Patriotic treat.
Anna and the King is a story of the church that reforms the government. It is a story of redemption. It is the story of a people and a nation dumping off the vestiges of slavery. It is the story of a king leading his people into an era of freedom from tyranny and raising his son to be a wise leader of his people. It is the story of English colonialization and the end of colonialization.
Both Anna and the King and The King and I are stories taken from a book about a women named Anna Leonowens, an English school teacher widow, who was contracted to tutor the eldest son of the King of Siam in the late 1800's. She traveled to Siam with her son, Louis. Siam, at the time, was sandwiched between Cambodia, which had leanings toward English control, and the lands to the East which were part of French Indochina.
The coming of Leonowens to Siam is a metaphor for the colonialization process. Anna stated to her son as they arrived that even though there were different customs within Siam, she and her son would not stray from the customs of England. After all, she said: "(We) came to Siam resolute in thinking that the ways of England were the ways of the world and if they were not, they ought to be." If this is not a program for colonialization, then what is it? Leonowens also observed that: "The people of Siam do not see the world as it is, but as they are, or perhaps that is my weakness." This is code for: "The people of Siam are debtors and subjects to a master- a king. They do not see that they are in a state of servitude. But then again, maybe it is better to be deceived and live a life of illusion." Is this not really an observance of conditions within our very own society in the UNITED STATES today and the condition of our own people? There is no slavery so hopeless than one in which the slaves do not know they are slaves. Leonowens also stated: "You cannot change the world as you know it. Believe me, I've tried." This is code for: "There is always going to be creditors/masters and debtors/slaves. You cannot change that." But one can make individuals aware of their condition and let them change their own lives for the better so that they can become creditors instead of slaves (be in control of their own lives).
At the end of the movie, Anna Leonowens goes home with her son. This is symbolic of the fact that England has overstayed its colonialization process. The international redemption of the debts owed to England have been fulfilled as an operation of law. It is time to end the colonialization period. Leonowens changed many traditions and patterns in Siam. But also, Siam has had an effect on her and changed her. Leonowens witnessed first hand the negative political side of the English Colonialization. She saw how the British were being blamed for a number of deaths of Siamese merchants, unjustly. But then, when push would come to shove, the British would make war upon Siam to push its own political agenda. It appears that Anna's initial thinking that the ways of England were or should be the way of the world no longer coincided with her personal philosophy. She learned to respect the people of Siam and their need for liberty and independence to carry out their own lives. 
Anna, a woman, represents the coming of the "church" to the land of Siam. The role of the church is to bring morality, law, and justice to a nation and a people. The King of Siam, King Mongkut, represents the "government"- an entity that brings protection to the nation from its enemies, raises a revenue to support itself, and brings protection to commerce within the nation. Both functions are equally important for a nation, and they must work together. The movie Anna and the King is an essay in bringing both the functions of the church (morality) and state (politics) together in an emerging nation in which the morality needed to be defined, and the politics of the state needed to be reformed to bring that harmony into existence. Behind the story of the nation is a parallel in the developing love affair between Anna and the King Mongkut. But even as the church and the state are separate (or foreign to each other as in separation of church and state), the love affair between Anna and the King is one of admiration and respect and never develops into a physical romance.
Anna learns to respect King Mongkut for his wisdom and understanding. Very seldom did the king say directly to Anna what was on his mind. He always spoke through parables. For each lesson that Anna taught the king, their was an equal response by the king to teach Anna. King Mongkut observed: "She holds so tightly to the past, that she keeps herself from peace. Roads are for journeys not destinations. I told her, perhaps one day she will understand that." The king, having observed that Anna was wise in her ways, did not interfere with Anna's acts and actions pursuant to her avocation. However, there were many times when Anna's acts and actions would trespass or come close to trespass upon the realm of the King. It was during those times that the King would respond to Anna's actions. 
The dialogue and the relationship between Anna and the King is a great training ground to observe contract law and negotiations at their best.
I suppose my favorite scene in the movie is where Anna discovers a Siamese slave woman chained down to the earth and living in squalor on the King's palatial grounds. This woman is being punished for contempt against her master- a Siamese woman who is very rich and quite nasty to her servants. The slave woman would not serve her master anymore. Anna takes pity upon her and thinks that it is barbaric that this woman would be treated as a slave. Anna takes the only possession of value she owns, her wedding ring, and uses the value in the ring to purchase the price of redemption for the slave woman to have her set free. The rich Siamese master brings a complaint against Anna to the King for interfering in the rich woman's affairs. When Anna is brought before the King by the rich woman, the Prime Minister of Siam is brought before the King to instruct the King and the parties to the controversy on the law of bondservants and redemption. The Prime Minister informs the King and the rich Siamese woman that the law of bondservants is that they can be redeemed by anyone at anytime. The rich woman complains to the King: "Are you to tell me that if my servants have the money to pay for their freedom that I will have to let them go? Who will do my chores?" The King responds: "Madam, you will have to. Let us hope that it does not come to that."
In my second favorite scene, Anna has come to Siam upon an agreement and contract with King Mongkut to tutor his oldest son. In return, Anna has requested a house to live in outside the King's palace as part of the terms and conditions of the contract. Upon Anna's arrival, she is not able to meet the King for a period of time. When she does have a meeting with him to initiate the contract, the King requests that she and her son live on the palace grounds, and that the house outside the palace grounds is not an option at that time. Anna reminds the King that their contract is NOT ONE OF EMPLOYMENT (whereby the King is the holder in due course and Anna is the "employee") but rather one of a quid pro quo where both parties are equal. Anna is about to return to her homeland immediately upon learning that the contract will not be honored as a quid pro quo agreement and that she will not get a house outside the palace walls. She and her son stay on, though, and over time the relationship between the King and Anna grows into one of a quid pro quo by admiration, wisdom, and mutual respect. The King finally admits: "This woman, this foreigner, this outsider, she has become a friend."
The story of Anna (the Church) is not a story of one who constantly fights the King (the state). Anna fights for the King (or the state) as much as Anna advises the King when she thinks he is wrong. In one scene Anna motivates the King's family to assist the King when it appears that the King will surely die in battle protecting his own family. The assistance works and the King's life is saved. When the King angrily asks Anna why she did not help the family go to safety as the King had ordered, she replies: "I have buried one man who I have admired (her first husband) in the jungle (a metaphor for warfare and legal insanity) and I will not bury another one.
There is one truism in Anna and the King that struck home to me more than any other. The particularly nasty little English trader who insults the King of Siam and others in the movie comes to the Prime Minister of Siam after it is learned that the nation is under attack from enemies, and that the English would most likely line up against Siam in any battle or conflict that would ensue. This English Trader says to the Prime Minister that England is NOT TO BLAME for the problems of Siam. The English trader reports that all of Siam's problems are a result of a traitor from within. It is people within Siam that have brought the nation to the brink of "war" by their actions and blamed the problems falsely upon England. Is that not true of our world today. Is not the DEMOCRACY a condition of warfare that resulted from the acts and actions of OUR OWN COUNTRYMEN who for one reason or another sell us out both in the past and in the present. Do not blame England for the fact that our Congress and national rulers sell our nation back into servitude. It is our own people who have placed themselves into debt servitude to the world. Not the acts of the One World Government, the Vatican, the Rothschilds, etc. Like the nasty English trader said, he is just there to make a living by commerce. He makes a better living when the ruler of the country is De jure and just. It is only the crooks and thieves that require the DEMOCRACY and traitorous acts to ensure their unjust advantages.
Anna and the King is a beautifully filmed movie. It's sets are created on a grand scale. Its acting is excellent. Jodie Foster plays an acceptable version of Anna. Chow Yun-Fat plays an excellent King Mongkut. His approach is very different than Yul Brynner's king in The King and I. Syed Alwi plays the part of the Prime Minister- Kralahome. This is a man you get to like as the film goes on. The King's oldest son is played by Keith Chin, the one who narrates the story. Anna's son, Louis, is played by Tom Felton. Adventure, romance, scenery, excellent musical score, the chance to observe contract and political negotiations at the highest level, truth- what more could you want.