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The Lake
Movie

The Lake

2022 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

A little girl brings back the big egg she finds by a nearby lake to her home. However, the egg belongs to a mysterious and dangerous creature, and it soon starts searching for it.

Overall Series Review

The movie is a Thai-produced kaiju/creature feature centered on a small community battling a mysterious amphibious monster searching for its stolen egg. The narrative is a classic human-versus-nature survival story, not a vehicle for Western-centric ideological commentary. The plot is driven by the monster's maternal instinct, setting a traditional premise. Its social critique is limited to a superficial and sometimes heavy-handed environmental message, suggesting a familiar trope that humanity is harming nature. The cast is culturally authentic, and the characters are defined by their roles in the crisis, not an explicit hierarchy of identity. There is a presence of familiar monster movie tropes, such as a weak male figure and a police detective with a strained father-daughter relationship, but the focus remains on action and survival against a colossal threat.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics1/10

The film is a Thai production with an entirely local Asian cast and setting, eliminating the possibility of 'vilification of whiteness' or 'race-swapping'. Character merit is based on competence and survival instincts during the monster crisis. The casting is culturally authentic to its setting.

Oikophobia2/10

The film is a non-Western production, making hostility toward 'Western civilization' irrelevant. The main moral subtext is an environmental theme, suggesting that human activity has disrupted nature and caused the monster's emergence, which serves as a critique of humanity's relationship with the natural world rather than a critique of civilization itself. This is a common and traditional trope in monster films.

Feminism4/10

The core antagonist is a 'mama' creature fiercely devoted to recovering its egg, which centers the narrative on a natalist and protective maternal drive. While the story features competent female characters, the plot also includes a male character (Keng) who is depicted as a drunkard and relatively incompetent, slightly raising the score from a pure traditional structure, but it avoids the 'Girl Boss' trope and anti-natalism.

LGBTQ+1/10

No information indicates the presence of an LGBTQ+ subplot, character, or dialogue centering sexual or gender identity. The human dynamics revolve around traditional structures such as a father and daughter, and siblings, operating within a normative structure.

Anti-Theism1/10

Reviews note that the creature shows a form of ethical standard by refusing to attack a Buddhist monk, suggesting an acknowledgement or respect for traditional spiritual or moral figures within the narrative, which is the opposite of anti-theism.