A ZAZI FILMS & STUDIO71 PRODUCTION DIRECTED BY LUDOC WITH ALBAN PELLEGRIN 7 days damn it! 7 days I’ve been getting ready for this fight. 7 days I’ve been travelling around Thailand
to learn Thai boxing, a sport I’ve never done before. 7 days of mishaps, encounters and emotions
and a question that keeps bugging me: Will I be ready? My name is Alban, I’m an amateur and this is my story. ONE SPORT, ONE COUNTRY AMATEUR 7 DAYS BEFORE THE FIGHT Right now I am in Pai, in northern Thailand. I came here to discover a culture
through its iconic sport, Thai boxing. I’m trying to find the camp, Mister Bee’s camp. You’re good, really good! Okay, Pai Hospital. I’m almost there,
the camp is only a hundred yards away. There it is! Hello! I’m training straight away? English boxing uses the fists. French boxing uses the feet and the fists. And Thai boxing adds the elbows and the knees. It’s probably the most violent sport
in the world… <i>Sawat dee khap (hello)</i> We’re in a decor,
it’s a hangar with a ring in the middle and boxing bags.
It oozes with Thai boxing and adventure,
the one I came here to live. I’m going to have a shower now
and then a good night’s sleep. Something completely crazy just happened. I actually got kicked out of the room. So this here is my new room. I’m not joking. And the one who kicked me out is pretty beefy too. So we have dogs in here, perfect. And weird things dropping, very original. I guess this is my hazing. It’s going to be a long night. 6 DAYS BEFORE THE FIGHT Holy shit… What? Right… Yes, yes… I thought I had a hard night, but waking up is even worse. Not sure you can even call it a night. I didn’t understand a thing he said. Only that I got soaked. That’s the only thing I understood. “Quick quick”, I’m already at my quickest… Running is something I like. And I believe I’m good at cardio,
you want to test me, haze me, push me? I’ll show you I can run. It’s horrible. I don’t know what’s happening to me.
What the hell am I doing here?
Fuck! Everything here is extremely hard. The people in the camp haze me. Mister Bee puts me through hell
as soon as I get up. I know the training is difficult,
but I wasn’t expecting it to be so harsh. And then I’m at the top of the white Buddha
and I think “Alban, realise where you are”. “Enjoy!” We’re training in a place
that isn’t just symbolic, it’s spiritual. He slapped me all over. It was hell. I’m out of breath. It was hell.
It’s not easy. Not easy at all. Fuck! When I get back to camp,
I hear someone playing the guitar.
So I go and see him spontaneously. And it makes me feel better. So instead of locking myself up in my room, even though technically
I still don’t have a room, I spot some of my “comrades”
and I ask them questions about life on the camp. They introduce me to the cook,
who offers me to come with him. So I say yes. And we’re off to the market
to make food for tonight. It’s a moment of intense sharing. Then we go back to the camp and to the kitchen. It makes me hungry. He teaches me to cut the chicken
without cutting my finger. I haven’t really had time to rest, but walking up to them
despite what they put me through actually makes me happy. My hazing is over. I just learned that I was allowed
to sleep in the house tonight. I have a roof! Maybe even a fan! The young boxers at camp
follow exactly the same programme. They get up around 5-6 in the morning
and start with a run.
Then they train before going to school. They come back in the afternoon
for the second training of the day, the one I’m about to do with Bee
who has come with Tree, my sparring partner. It’s like a huge tsunami coming for me. When he makes me lie down,
I think it’s to stretch out. But it’s not to stretch out at all… What ? No…
No… Fuck! Wow! Right. It was hard. It was hard… I feel terrible. I feel terrible because I know I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m not ready. I’m going to get my face smashed in in 5 days. IN THE NEXT EPISODE My body’s never hurt so much. If I don’t want to get my face smashed in,
I don’t have a choice. I can’t give up..
