Da Tang Xuan Zang

Hsuan Tsang or Xuanzang is mentioned in early historical scriptures as of one the first person who journeyed from China via the Silk Road through Central Asia to reach India (or Sindhu as it was referred to then). He documented his travels meticulously and penned down all his escapades as he traversed the treacherous terrains, hills, deserts, monsoon and scorching heat. A child prodigy, Xuanzang entered the Buddhist monastery and was ordained a monk in Mahayana Buddhism at the age of 20. He then mastered Sanskrit and started studying ancient texts. Discovering discrepancies in the available scriptures, at the age of 25, in the year 627AD, he started a solo journey on foot from Chang 'An to India. This was the transition time from the Sui to the relatively peaceful Tang dynasty. His final destination was Nalanda University, in Meghada kingdom.

After three long years, travelling through modern-day Kazhakstan, Kyzhegistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Lahore and Delhi, he reached his destination. He is the first person to have described the Hindu kingdom to be extending as far as Afghanistan.

He describes all the places that he visited within India. He told about how people live, the social norms and their dietary peculiarities. After learning at Nalanda University, he makes his teachers proud by winning an interfaith debate organised by King Varsha during Kumbh Mela in the holy city of Prayag (modern-day Allahabad). After 19 long years, traversing through 110 countries and walking 25,000 km, Xuanzang returned to Chang 'An with a wealth of knowledge and scriptures.

The film is recommendable for its infotainment value. It brings to light of mesmerising natural landscapes and buildings that most of us will not have a chance to witness in our lifetimes. Many of the magnificent shrines and temples that existed at the time of his visit are still standing today. One such majestic structure is Ajanta Caves.

In the early 5th century AD, another Buddhist scholar from China named Faxian made a similar trip to India. He visited India during the reign of a Hindu dynasty, Chandragupta II, and reached Gautama Buddha's birthplace of Lumbini to obtain Buddhist scripts. He also visited Pataliputra, a Buddhist stronghold (Maurya's kingdom). Faxian, however, continued his journey to Ceylon. He described the island as a land of demons. He returned to China via sea. His boat went off course to Java and again swept off to Shandong on a second trip back to China.

With so much ease of acquiring knowledge through the plethora of portals available to us, we still have the inertia to go the extra mile. These two extraordinary figures risked their time and life to acquire and disseminate the wealth of knowledge to generations after them. Holding on to compasses in their hands, faiths in their heart as well as the stars above their heads as markers, they ventured into unknown territories. Come what may!

The story is straightforward and lack of a sense of rhythm from beginning to the end. The leading actor Xiaoming Huang made me feel sleepy when he said the lines. Jin Luo and Kai Tan is the only two roles that can make me believe in, the other supporting roles were set as props, neither vitality nor personality. Therefore, the biggest drawback of this film is that the characters are shaped by very dull way.

Of course, the advantage of this film is the original music and photography technology.If you want to appreciate Buddhism scenic spot in India, if you like Tang dynasty costumes, and visit beautiful scenery of the silk road, all of these has been put in the movie.

Xuan Zang's journey showed many obstacles in his path to gain an even deeper spiritual truth. Xuan Zang displayed great endurance and perseverance in the face of these obstacles.

At times I had to suspend disbelief for example when an elephant tipped over into a river, sunk and did not drown. Why is this important? I feel they went out of their way to show that Xuan Zang was not responsible for the death of any living creature which is a central tenant to Buddhism.

Where this movie breaks down is in detailing spiritual truth. The movie talked about debate and showed a winner with no debate! I would have liked to have seen at least a couple of minutes of debate interspersed.

Produced by Wong Kar-wai and directed by sixth generation Chinese director Huo Jianqi (who previously directed Postmen in the Mountains (1999) and Naan(2003), "Xuan Zang" is the first Indo-Chinese co- production by the state-owned China Film Corporation and Eros International.

The story depicts the 17 years long legendary seventh century spiritual journey of Buddhist monk Xuan Zang (Hsüan-tsang), who dissatisfied with the translations of Buddhist texts available in china and wanted to collect originals from Nalanda, from China to India during the Tang dynasty and whose famous journey served as an inspiration for Chinese fantasy classic "Journey to The West."

Eyes are not enough to see the splendor of this masterpiece. Those picturesque and unseen Chinese landscapes are breath-taking. This lavish and high budget spiritual adventure epic is memorable and rare kind. A film must not miss.

This film was selected as the Chinese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

My actual rating of this film would be an 8 or perhaps 9 out of 10, but I gave it a 10 because I certainly feel it deserves better than it's current rating of 6. This is certainly not a film for everyone. As previous reviewers have noted, it has a very slow pace and it is not an action movie, but then it never claimed to be. Just because it is Asian does not mean it's going to have kung fu sequences.

This film is about a monk's journey. The why of the journey is really not the main focus, it's about the journey itself. It's about pilgrimage. One can learn about the historical Xuan Zang (and the subsequent fictionalized versions of his life) elsewhere. What this movie captures is more along the lines of films such as the 2006 Russian movie Ostrov (The Island). It is about the character's spiritual journey and the effects he has on those he encounters, as well as how his faith carries him through both hardships and triumphs.

Gorgeously filmed with a beautiful soundtrack, this is a quiet, reflective movie which will not appeal to everyone, and certainly not to people looking for anything fast-paced or action oriented.