Isan, the largest and most impoverished region of Thailand, has long been a thorn in the kingdom’s flesh with its legacy of pro-democratic movements. Isan Odyssey takes viewers on an enlightening, music-filled journey through the forgotten pages of Thailand’s political history. What can a musical form tell us about the world? According to Thunska Pansittivorakul’s captivating, multifaceted documentary Isan Odyssey, a great deal. Mor Lam, a traditional folk music with roots in Laos, continues to be popular in Isan, a Lao-majority region of northeastern Thailand. Although once a vehicle for Isan self-determination against perceived “Thaification” of the region’s culture, today Mor Lam is a glossy multimedia spectacle dominated by love songs.