Samsara

Normally I would be with hundreds celebrating the arrival of the new year. Last night I decided to be alone with SAMSARA. When the film ended at 1h40am, I was in year 2006 -transformed. A masterpiece about choices that we all have to make sooner or later. I've spent hours surfing net on SAMSARA, reading reactions of people from Brazil to Bombay to Bucharest to Bangladesh. How wonderful so many people are united by SAMSARA. The film opens up your heart and soul. I am normally too much an intellectual when it comes to liking a film. But this one just took me like a storm -mesmerizing cinematography, soothing sound track (one of the best sound design ever!), soul-stirring landscapes and above all masterly written and directed by Pan Nalin -whoever he maybe. It is one of the most powerful first feature I have ever seen. I now eagerly await Nalin's next feature VALLEY OF FLOWERS. Meanwhile for anyone who has not yet seen this movie I say to them just go for it with open mind, leave your issues behind and just dive into SAMSARA...

Very rarely one can find such a well balanced movie with a full commitment from the whole staff: Director (Nalin Pan), all the Actors & the total Crew. Shooting a film like this is not an easy task. The beauty of the locations is just breathless (at several thousands miles of altitude!)... And if the hall has a good air conditioning system, for sure you will really feel the freezing winds that blows at the Himalayas by watching this outstanding film. It is not only the performance of the actors (animals included!... a smart dog called Kala -"Time" in Sanskrit- by instance or some impressive eagle!) but the quality of the script. There are some passages of the film that just tastes like a short documentary. And immediately it is softly engaged with the story. No matter how high could be your achievement, if it is not on balance with the Life Flow, you will face the even... unavoidably? Perhaps... Tashi (Shawn Ku)is a consecrated Lama that has been in the yoghi experience of Samadhi Meditation (Fullest Consciousness) during three years, three months, three weeks, three days... A little bit to much for his Master's criteria but the Disciple wanted to test himself till the very limits of his own potential. Recognized as a Khenpo (a title of tibetan scholastic mastery), some further and higher Initiation will be bestowed on him by the Highest Rimpocheh nearby. However, there is some other experience he has never faced till then: the awakening of his own sexuality and the relationship with the key of human gender, the woman! Therefore this new step will be postponed and replaced by his own decision's sake. As a layman, the Lama he used to be is almost gone. As a husband, he shows the main aspect of any other man of his condition. As a father, he forgets to be the one closest to his own child and... once more: he ran away. Finally, Tashi has to face the reality of Maya & Samsara, the value of the Teachings inside the Dharma from his Master and the higher spiritual level of his wife, the beautiful & convincing Pema (Christy Chung). After listening to her, there are very few subsisting doubts concerning the equal rights for both women & men to obtain the Buddhahood. This is the kind of movie one can see and watch time after time, just to check oneself's evolving... And to enjoy a very nice soundtrack with the exotic melodies of the dialogues in Tibetan Languages. Please, don't loose it!!

A beautiful set, spectacle landscape only revealing a story of a ugly fact. What is the religion really about? When Pema asked Tashi 'see what I have done? Did you do this for me?' and Tashi answered 'I only did it for myself.' It is very true. He is such a selfish man and the other only are his step stone. Pema and the son became a victim. He just want to explore life and Pema helped him to become another level of his next monk life.

Location is always important to such a atmosphere film and this film have utilized it to the most. 6 out of 10 goes to the beautiful piece of land.

My only criticism is the beginning of the film. The bird graphic was a bit too harsh. It looks too fake. The film would have wonderful if we forget this quick done work.

This is an exquisitely sensitive look at part of the life of a young lama(monk), and the choices he makes. A joy for anyone interested in Himalayan culture and religion. The photography of the extraordinary setting is moving, the soundtrack haunting, and the lead actors deeply touching in their portrayals. It took me a while to slow down and appreciate the rhythm of the film, as it is almost a meditation.

I loved everything about this movie, the story, the acting, the scenery and the love scenes. The raw passion that Tashi's character exudes throughout the movie and the tenderness that is Pema's character moved me.

The ending was one of the best I've seen in any movie. The poignant and piercing questions that Pema asks reminded me of a monologue from a Indian art-house film from the eighties called "Nikaah". The monologue (at the start of the movie) so eloquently spells out the plight of women throughout history.

The scene where the Sujatha lures Tashi, stands out in my mind as being very very sexy.