Smart pet tricks in Ai-Fak

One of the more gut-wrenching scenes in the recent Ai-Fak was of the title character clubbing a supposedly rabid dog with a gardening implement.

How did they do it? It's one of the biggest questions about the film - other than whether it was really actress Bongkote Kongmalai's breasts that were seen on film (prevailing opinion is that it was a body double).

The dog-beating scene comes along after Fak has been thoroughly humiliated by his "nutcase" widowed stepmother and his neighbors had all turned against him. When this stray dog wanders onto the school grounds, it's Fak, the janitor, who is tasked with disposing of the animal. Fak, taking a sharpened hoe, clubs the animal and with a glancing blow that only cripples it. It is seen pathetically dragging its hind legs as it tries to escape. It takes Fak a couple more bloody blows to finally finish the suffering creature.

It's symbolic of the mob mentality of the villagers - everyone believing the dog was rabid and that Fak was having an affair with his stepmother. Also, Fak, in beating the dog with such conviction, was hoping to redeem himself in the villagers' eyes, and for a hopeful time, he thinks he may have.

Anyway, the scene is pretty brutal, leading animal rights activists to question it. After all, Thailand is a place where the ASPCA isn't present on every set, monitoring the animal action. Not only were the activists concerned for the welfare of the animal, they protested the scene being included at all.

Pantham Thongsang, the movie's director, insisted the scene was a crucial part of the film.

"The dog-beating scene is the symbol that shows how human beings like to judge something they don't know anything about,'' he was quoted as saying by the Bangkok Post recently. "To make viewers get this message, we had to make them sympathise with the dog - make them feel the dog didn't deserve this."

The scene was actually played by two dogs, one called James Bond from the Chaipak Dog Training Centre, who impressed the movie's makers with his acting ability, barking threateningly, lying still and running away when instructed.

Other parts of the action were played by Nam Tan, a disabled dog from the Disabled Animal Aid Pak Kret Foundation. His role mostly entailed running back and forth in different directions, dragging his hind legs. He responded well to the director's commands, the Bangkok Post reported, and Nam Tan soon won the hearts of the crew. At present, he is enjoying a break from the movies and lives at dog trainer Chaipak Jiampahdi's house.

The dog actor, James Bond, has been on film before, for a two-part drama called Ab Khon Khang Ban (Peeking neighbours). For Ai-Fak the white-haired mongrel (who appears to have a bit of border collie in him) had his hair dyed black. Make up artists also did some work on his eyes and mouth.