Two symbols of the new Cambodia both made separate exits last week: Sambo the elephant and the Chinese television drama Love Is Brave. Rockefeller Without Borders pays an investigative tribute to them both.
Life in Phnom Penh was never easy for the very popular Sambo, but after 33 years of entertaining grateful citizens, she was finally given the opportunity to retire and live the rest of her days in a peaceful sanctuary in Mondulkiri where it is hoped she will not be coaxed out of retirement with the promise of one more big payday. Representatives from a large US aid organisation have reportedly asked ageing American rocker Bob Seger (but not his Silver Bullet Band) to speak to Sambo’s handlers about the risks of doing a comeback tour when you are well past your prime. Seger’s manager said, quote: “Bob will play his hits Night Moves and Old Time Rock & Roll for Sambo to illustrate how little you really need to make money.
The lesson here is that Sambo should just be content to collect royalty cheques. Comeback tours by ageing entertainers can be embarrassing, not to mention disappointing and, quite frankly, frightening for fans.” Told Sambo was a gigantic elephant, the agitated manager replied: “So what?! If Sambo wants to let herself go like that, it’s her business! What is it? Booze, drugs?” Then he mumbled a few lines from the Seger ‘75 hit, Beautiful Loser, before trying to auction off an Against The Wind tour shirt (large, worn twice).
Love Is Brave, the Chinese soap opera that had been shooting in and around Cambodia earlier this year, found itself confronting the type of controversy that could make a comeback very difficult. The star-filled drama was put in an unfortunate predicament when its lead actor, Huang Haibo (rhymes with ‘Sambo’, purely coincidental) was arrested and put in prison for six months for soliciting a prostitute at a Beijing hotel, sending the show’s future into darkness and disarray.
Disappointed officials from both countries saw this soap as an excellent opportunity to showcase Cambodia to the world. In a desperate attempt to free Haibo and save the production, the show’s writers told authorities they would craft up an episode where Haibo falls victim to a temporary bout of immorality, visiting a prostitute because he was stricken by the dangerous demons of pre-marital sex that had taken over his body like some sort of Linda Blair devil child. By the third act, our hero wakes up to understand that real love is the only worthwhile pursuit, not some get-your-rocks-off-with-a-handy-hooker affair, looking at himself long and hard in the mirror before splashing cold water on his face and storming out of his apartment as the camera captures him pushing his way through a crowd at Phnom Penh’s busy Central Market to find his girlfriend and her mother haggling over jewellery, turning to see the beleaguered, barely recognisable Haibo dropping to his knees weeping, begging for forgiveness, which, with much cliffhanging tension sending audience heart-rates racing, mother and daughter eventually accept – but only after a clever negotiation tactic secures both Haibo and the lowest asking price on a diamond-encrusted jade ring.
By the time the credits roll – as Bob Seger’s We’ve Got Tonight plays softly in the background – there would not be a dry eye in the house, from Peking to Phnom Penh, and everyone, especially those impressionable younger fans of the show that this episode most wants to reach, would be taught a valuable lesson that prostitution doesn’t pay (unless it is purely platonic or someone gets a Louis Vuitton handbag). The show’s new slogan: ‘Use Haibo to educate, not fornicate!’ A writers’ chant echoing up to Mondulkiri, where our beloved Sambo and her handlers sit under a shady palm reflecting on their long, prestigious career in show business. The End.