Hasta La Creative!

Thai mobile company TrueMove, which you’ll remember from the world-famous “Giving” spot back in 2013, is back with another gem—a stirring, cinematic spot in which the daughter of a charity worker visits a Thai woman who helped her father when he was a prisoner of war in World War II.

The ad, which shows how a brave act of kindness can change a life, is part of a campaign called “The True Meaning of Giving,” which is backed by a group of Thailand charities.

One of the actors in the spot writes in the YouTube comments that it references a POW camp in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, where the Japanese forced prisoners to build a railway bridge over the River Kwai. (That was also the setting for the famous movie.)

The tie-in to the brand, “Compassion is true communication,” is still a bit flimsy—but TrueMove has stuck with the idea of giving for years, and it’s presumably working for them. In less capable hands, this would be a schmaltzy ode to the White Savior, but the direction, acting and overall commitment here are so good that one can’t help but be moved.