Chocolate

Chocolate is a Thai action film from 2008 directed by Prachya Pinkaew. It premiered in Thailand on 6 February 2008 and was also released internationally under the titles Zen and Warrior Within. It was shot in 2006 and 2007. The story starts from the relationship between the Thai woman Zin and a boss of the Japanese yakuza. Their shared past leads to conflict, and Zin gives birth to a daughter, Zen, the main character of the film. Zen learns fighting styles by imitating what she sees in martial arts films; the film refers to Bruce Lee and to movies starring Tony Jaa. Zen is played by Yanin Vismitananda, whom Prachya Pinkaew discovered in 2003. Chocolate was her first leading role. She brought her own training to the shoot: she holds a 4th dan in taekwondo and specialises in Muay Thai, which is the main fighting component of the film. The fight scenes were choreographed by the stunt team of Panna Rittikrai. Capoeira appears in one of the fights. In 2025, director Quentin Tarantino ranked Chocolate 17th on his list of favourite films of the 21st century.

Martial arts in this work

Fight choreography

The fight scenes were prepared by the stunt team of Panna Rittikrai, and Yanin Vismitananda underwent further training with it for the film; we have not been able to document how long it lasted. For the joint fight with the character Thomas, played by Kittitat Kowahagul, a b-boying champion, the two actors trained capoeira together. In early January 2008, before the premiere, a three-minute promo video was released online, which besides action scenes also showed unused footage from the shoot with apparently painful injuries. We did not find in the sources which injuries these were.

People and martial arts

• Prachya PinkaewDirector
• Panna RittikraiFight choreographer
• Yanin VismitanandaActor — as Zen· Muay Thai (real practitioner)
• Kittitat KowahagulActor — as Thomas· Capoeira (portrays the art on screen)