9 Thai family members on a pilgrimage to lucky number 9
Screen shot: 9 Temples to Heaven
Daniel Nelson
English has Cloud 9, meaning happiness. Thais also like 9 - kao. It’s a lucky number, it means ‘to progress’, and is associated with the late King Bhumibol who reigned for 70 years.
So when Sakol’s boss advises him to take his aging mother on a trip to nine temples in order for her to extend her life and gain merit before she dies, he is determined to do so.
The film 9 Temples to Heaven follows the family — nine relatives — on the pilgrimage, chatting to each other in the people carrier and delivering boxes of goods to the head monk in each temple.
That’s the whole film. Not much happens. Differences in attitudes among the travellers begin to emerge from the conversations. One grandson clearly dislikes the whole enterprise and sits apart from the family in the temples. His partner loyally sits next to him but seems to want to show religious and family respect. Granny gets tired, is in pain from sitting cross-legged, dozes and wants to go home. Some of the group think that would be sensible, others feel they should go along with wholly committed dad.
The camera also has an eye on the attitude of the monks. Each has a different line of approach. One uses the opportunity to emphasise the importance of meditation, another briskly accepts the offerings like a shopkeeper, ordering the goods to be carried to an area that looks like an emporium. Another riffs on the concept of gaining merit for the living rather than the dead.
Director Sompot Chidgasornpongse has explained that “After my grandmother passed away ,I became more distant from my relatives, though my desire to connect with them remains strong. I realised that the temples and the journeys we took together were the times and places when we shared conversations, laughter, and truly bonded. The rituals,while their promised outcomes remain doubtful, serve a different purpose.”
He has also underlined the point that British audiences might miss, though we are all living in a Bob Dylan period in which The Times They Are A-Changin’. In Thailand, he says, King Rama’s death in 2016 and the military coups caused or reflected dramatic shifts in the political climate, creating fractures among Thais, “including within my own family and circle of friends. Many feel that the country is trapped in a loop, and I cannot help but draw parallels with the nine-temple trips.”
Attitudes to Buddhism have changed, he argues: ”This tension, the push and pull between the older and newer beliefs are seen within my family and everywhere in the world. We question our faith and fight the inner conflicts figuring out what is truly best for us.
”With this film, I want to create a compassionate tribute to families living under different sets of viewpoints, influenced by larger institutional powers that loom over them, may it be from religions or politics.”
Such shifts in thought are subtly reflected in the film, which is a sweet, touching, meticulously observed family road trip. But it’s very, very slow and long, probably too much so for most Western audiences.
+ + + The film won the First Feature Competition at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival: “Infused with gentle humour and profound humanity, Sompot Chidgasornpongse's fiction debut presents a serene passage through family, faith and the cycles of life.
The jury said: “An accomplished first feature paving his own path in the well-established tradition of filmmaking in the Southeast Asian region. The film is visually outstanding, spiritual, and meditative where a story about life and death transcends borders and generations.”