Reviews

This impressive documentary narrates story of the difficult history of Tibet and the culture of people inhabiting it, specifically, people practicing specific Buddhist meditations - yogis. What is more surprising, that the film included the stories and interviews of real yogis who have been on the retreat for a very long time and devoted several decades to those practices. The realism with which this documentary was made strongly impressed me. Previously, the image of the ascetic people was so vague for me, I did not clearly understand what motivates them, which physical and emotional challenges they experience. More interestingly, the film even represented the habitual things of the retreat like, for example, I was wondering what and how much those yogis eat when being on the retreat, how literally retreat is conducted etc. and the documentary provided the answers for that. The main idea of the film was so fascinating for me. The idea of your enemy being your greatest teacher made me think about many things in my personal life. Looking how Tibetan people who themselves and whose families and friends were prosecuted by the Chinese government are not seeking for the revenge, but striving towards compassion for them was completely novel for me. Looking how people wanted to meditate even in prison, where usually meditation is the last thing you would think about. Those monks are not angry, not sad, not frustrated because of those horrible experience of Chinese invasion, they control their mind so strongly that they are patient and happy with the reality, as it exists now. The content and satisfaction does not come as a result of something, but everything begins with it. And this is the concept that would be helpful to understand as a lot of people now are being so materialistic and so dissatisfied with what they have. The powerful words of one monk says: "The untrained mind is like a raging elephant out of control". In general, this idea of controlling and training your mind was a very influential concept for me. And the way yogis do it is that they exhaust all the potentials of human body to solely concentrate on own mind. They proclaim those retreat practices to be the most efficient one, because otherwise, you may know the theory, but there is no point in it without undergoing the hardships of physical meditation. And it comes to the point when the one can become dead purely just by such practices. I was just astonished about how powerful the control over your mind and body should be that you could literally kill yourself being in a good health and using just your own mind. Overall, this documentary was so impressing for me and it made me think about my spiritual state, about my attitude to what is happening in life. Probably, it is the time to stop being so demanding and just face the reality, which you are given, and be thankful for that. I loved the way this film gathered different interviews, real yogis' practices, photos of real people and old scriptures. Hearing something that happens in real life, and seeing the real people that not only tell the stories of Buddha, but actually try to follow the Dharma in the specific way, is a way more helpful and interesting. The content is great and I would recommend it to everyone, who seeks some signs in their life to change yourself. I can feel that I have grown at least a little after watching it.

The film "The Cup", which narrates the touching story of little monks from one Himalayan Monastery with a big love to football, was awarded with a lot of prizes in numerous festivals. What makes this film special is the fact that its director, Khyentse Norbu, is a Tibetan lama himself. So he, more than anyone else, was able to depict the life of Buddhist monks as it is. Probably that is why this story gets to the hearts of viewers, independently of their religion. The most important thing that I liked about this movie is its main idea of representation the religion not only as a collection of strict rules and discipline, but also as a kindness, generosity and pure hearts of believers, which are much more important. Despite the fact that it is prohibited to watch the TV, it is prohibited to escape from the monastery, despite all of the aspects of the strict monastic code, the lama and another teacher support monks in their big interest and passion. Because they understand that they are kids, it is not the ideal world of fully detached from everything disciples, and that these children have a right to find something very interesting for them. More importantly, how united and harmonious the whole sangha is, how honest they are towards their teachers, how kind and generous they are to give the last thing that they have in order to support their fellow monk in his decision of bringing the TV into their monastery - that is what plays a bigger role. Seeing all of this, the wise lama accepts the little deviations from the rules. From my point of view, this highlights the main idea and principles of Buddhism as a very inclusive religion - you have to have a kind and pure heart, you have to be in peace and harmony with yourself and with the external world, your intentions should be good and everything else matters much less. And I think the author not only wanted to speak about the Buddhism precisely, but the message was probably addressed towards all the religions. Because people now misinterpret religions and are so focused on doing everything precisely right according to the laws of religions in order to get rid of their sins, so that they forget to be simply good people and true believers. We need to accept that religion changes through time as people change, but if you have peace and God in yourself, the fact that you watch TV once a week becomes minor. Also I liked how monkhood is represented and shown here. We always imagine monks as people, who are so far away from this Earth, who live a completely different life, eat different food and everything they do is only pray all day. But here we can see that monks are people too. And it is very important to know in order to not idealize any of the religions and ecclesiastic people. Monks also want to make jokes on each other, deviate from some monastery responsibilities, have other interests rather than religion only, want to keep up with the world and it is completely normal for any human being. Another thing that I have found interesting is how Mahayana ideas about Buddhism can be seen here. The whole film is about friendship, support, love, help, rather than about detachment from any relationships and ceasing of all your passions (football, for example), which are in most correspond to the view of Mahayana Buddhists, for whom one of the most important thing is compassion towards each other and the need to help others. In general, I love the genre of this film, and the fact that so deep and profound idea is shown through the innocent comedy. I did not like the camera work because sometimes it was hard to see and understand the scene because of the light and bad perspective. But overall, it is a great film with a good and important message, which I would definitely recommend to people independently of their religious views.

The documentary "Buddha's Lost Children" directed by Mark Verkerk shows the life of the famous in Thailand Buddhist monk, Khru Bah Neua. During the last 15 years, he dedicates his life to orphaned and abandoned children, raising and giving them everything they would not get if they stayed in their villages. This film is about dedication, compassion and pure love, love to everything Khru Bah has and everything he does. The film demonstrates the basic Buddhist's canons and ideas about life. So Khru Bah teaches his disciples not to steal, not to lie, and more importantly, he teaches them to concentrate on their own minds and to have them in peace. When the new novice comes, the monk demands from him not only basic repetitions of the Sutras, but pure concentration on them. And judging by that, Khru Bah decides whether he will be a good disciple or not. When something bad happens, Khru Bah always proclaims: "That is because their hearts are not yet in peace". So for him, as for a Buddhist monk, the internal state and presence of internal harmony is the most important thing, and that is what he wants to teach his novices. According to the same principle, he calls the tattoo a test whether you can take your mind out of body or not. If it remains there, the tattoo will hurt. This was very interesting and new Buddhist viewpoint that I grabbed for myself. Another important aspect of this film is that it destroys the stereotype and misconceptions about Buddhism as the most peaceful religion, which does not permit any physical or mental pressure. Khru Bah says: "If the horse is stubborn, the child needs to beat it. If the child is stubborn, I need to beat him". So he shows them what is right and what is wrong, but as now they are incapable to distinguish between it, sometimes they need to be punished to reach that understanding. He shows them that life is suffering, and only through the dedication to teachings, concentration and peaceful heart, you will become a better person. What I personally liked the most about this film is the way it is shooted. Because it is so natural, there are not any artificial and high colored scenes. The film shows real lives, real emotions, real people, without any trials to make it more beautiful or more appealing to the eyes of viewers. And looking on that, you feel that you are travelling with them, you see with your own eyes how poor these people from villages are, you hear the cry of that little boy, you feel how kindly the monk talks with you. You feel immersed and affected, that is why the movie touches your heart, and for me, even makes me cry during some episodes. Overall, it is one of the best documentaries I have seen so far. The story itself is incredible, and sometimes it is very hard to believe that there are such people like Khru Bah, who are so generous, so kind, so caring. And I think this film should be must-watch for everyone independently of the interest in religions, because it teaches us that despite of any harsh conditions of life, it is still possible to be good and to do good to others in any way that you can. Until there are people like Khru Bah, the world is safe.

The film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring", created by the Korean film director Kim Ki-duk, was highly appreciated among the critics and was awarded with many global prizes, and after watching this I can easily understand why. Atmospheric - that is the appealing word to describe this film. Everything, starting from the amazing landscapes, and ending with barely-heard beautiful music, make viewers to be completely immersed in this parable-like movie. With the minimum amount of words, the creators of the film clearly delivered the story, and have let every viewer to make his own conclusion. In my opinion, the idea of the film coincides with the Buddhist ideology, that life is full of suffering; it is a continuous battle with yourself, with your own cravings, attachments and unnecessary emotions. During the whole film, the main character is trying to conquer himself and to become like his master. Starting from the period when he, as a boy, attains pleasure from seeing the sufferings of animals and ending with the time when his lust turned him into a murderer. All this way through, his teacher is trying to help him, by attaching the stone to him and thus, showing how instant karma works, or by detaching him from the woman, the object of the disciple's passion. The teacher expects that he would be able to change the life of this boy by teaching him all that he knows. But the Wheel of Samsara is continuously turning because all creatures are sinful, and it is very hard to escape it, as well as it is hard to escape the fact that after spring where will be fall, and after fall there will be winter and on and on. Throughout the film, we can see different interesting Buddhist signs and references. The first thing that catches the attention is that nobody in this film has the name. It may be connected with the Buddhist idea of "no-self", that there is no permanent "self" in us. Another example, when the boy decides to leave, he takes with him the statue of Buddha and the rooster. By doing that he wants the revenge, he wants to hurt his teacher by taking away the things that his teacher loved and was attached to, the same as the teacher separated the disciple from his woman. But rooster in Buddhism symbolizes lust and attachment, so metaphorically speaking, the disciple takes this sin with him to his further life. Another episode, when the teacher burns himself after the monk goes to jail, the snakes come out. Snake in Buddhism symbolizes hatred emotion, so probably this was because the teacher was full of hatred and disappointment in his disciple and in himself, because he failed to pass the Dharma effectively. Or probably because even the disciple tried to get rid of the hatred through cutting the Sutra, it was still left in him. That is the fascinating feature of this movie - everybody can understand and interpret this story according to his understanding. But the main moral is clear - it is all in your mind, which always should be in peace and not deceived by physical attachments, lust, cravings, hatred, and only through abandoning this, it would be possible to change the frailty of life and stop the Wheel of Samsara. Or how it was said in the movie: "The suffering is in her mind. When she finds peace in her mind, her body will return to health". Overall, I think it is a great movie. It greatly demonstrates the basics of Buddhist ideology and some of the Eastern cultural features. I think it may seem for some viewers to be a little slow, or lack of actions and words, but again, that is the feature of Asian movies, of their culture and mentality. There is a good camera work, amazing nature shown, good storyline, and more importantly, it provides a great food for thought, even for those, who are not interested in Buddhism.