The Forgotten Kingdom

This movie brings front and center what, after clean air, water, and fertile soil, well may be the main issue facing humanity at this time. What role, if any, do our religions, traditions, mythology, tribal wisdom, family culture and relationships, play in modern life?

We're only fooling ourselves when we think we can escape the fundamental problem by imagining that our 'past' - our memories about our experiences and our reactions to them, is objective fact of some kind. But it's not, we don't have the hardware to capture anything like that - those experiences, and especially our judgments about them, are points of view that we've taken that cumulatively shape and color the atmosphere of our lives. They're a personal mythology that both guides us and limits us at the same time. There's a wonderful exchange in the movie where Atang asks his young companion something like - 'What happened to your parents?' The response - 'They were great Basotho warriors. They died defending the kingdom.' Atang mulls over it for a second, and decides, 'Mine went that way too.' We don't know how 'we' got here or really what we're supposed to do. We know our time is limited. We have memories and feelings about our experiences, but little in the way of anything that could be legitimately called objective fact. We decide to interpret our experience in a certain way and it then frames our relationships and forms our personalities.

The movie is one man's evolutionary journey toward personal truth, triggered by his father's death, and what a funny, surprising, heartfelt, and beautiful journey it is.

As an avid movie fan who has seen at least 1000 movies, The Forgotten Kingdom is one of the Finest Movies I have ever Experienced.

There are so many positives from the excellent writing, directing, acting, storyline to the musical score and cinematography. It is Deep, even Mystical; Moving and Meaningful; Sublime.

The subtitles were done to perfection. Excellent casting. I highly recommend this movie, the whole family can attend.

Before this movie, I knew very little of Lesotho, now I have been there.

I was fortunate to experience this film at the Minneapolis / Saint Paul International Film Festival.

Super thought provoking movie, excellent story telling which keeps your full attention to the end. I found the story could be applied to any society proving whatever race , humans are basically the same. A love story with the trials and tribulations of the characters portrayed. I thought the acting was of a high calibre worthy of any cast in the world and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the casting.The director definitely produced a masterpiece.

The location was stunning and gave a real sense of the problems living in Lethoso, the poverty and social tradition was all to apparent and was portrayed in a realistic way.

NO SPOILERS.

I started watching this on Sky Cinema and almost switched it off after five minutes but, for reasons I can't explain, I let it run on. Lucky me.

This is quite likely the most rewarding and beautiful piece of cinematic storytelling I have seen in years. The combination of acting, cinematography and Leone-esque direction all accompanied by a superb and haunting music score left me breathless with admiration and I was left wanting more.

The popcorn brigade should stay away but, if you love film, this is a must-see that will remain in the memory as a masterpiece.