Rencontres avec des hommes remarquables

Meetings with Remarkable Men is the adaptation of part of the autobiography of George Gurdjieff, a mystic who lived between the 2nd half of the 19th century and the 1st half of the 20th century.

The movie is more like a docudrama, about his travels from central asia to Egypt, and back to central Asia once again in a pursuit for knowledge about the purpose of life and existence, and the movie focuses on the time span between his teenage years back in Georgia to his early adulthood and the discovery of the secret place of the Sarmoung Brotherhood.

The movie was well produced, and its purpose was not to tell a story as much as to enlighten those who are willing to receive the knowledge, which is why I gave it a full score.

Based on the autobiographical book of the same name, Peter Brooks' Meetings With Remarkable Men is the story of the early years of Russian philosopher and magician George Gurdjieff and the people that led him to become a spiritual seeker and an inspiration to devoted followers around the world. Filmed in the mountains and deserts of Afghanistan, a Russian Prince (Terrence Stamp) directs Gurdjieff (Dragan Maksimovic) and a group of seekers to search for the teachings of an ancient Russian brotherhood called the Sarmound. The adventure leads them through the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas to a monastery where Gurdjieff learns self-expression through dancing and body movement, a technique he taught his followers many years later.

If enlightenment means anything, it means to "lighten up", but this bio-pic of Gurdjieff's coming of age is heavy and significant, reducing the life of a man of exuberance to ponderous banality. The characters walk zombie-like through their lines, never allowing any hint of joy in being alive and the stilted dialogue sounds like a cross between the spiritual kitsch of Lost Horizon and Star Wars. Filming this outstanding book, I'm afraid, requires a visionary who is able to convey its meaning with suggestion, poetry, and a touch of cinematic magic -- sadly lacking here.

Gurdjieff is such an intriguing character- a Greek-Armenian wanderer turned mystic- whose stories combine travelogue, religion, mysticism, and sci-fi; with a Tai-Chi like system of exercise; and rather rigourous ritual structure (not portrayed in the film, but approaching the tactics of Scientology)...to form a full blown cult of personality, that would go on to influence, even, presidents.

The story here- taken from Gurdjieff's book of the same name, about his travels, and the men he would meet on his path toward enlightenment- starts with a young grifter in Armenia, who gets by hustling with his friends...before he meets an old Dervish priest, with a mysterious parchment that a Russian prince had paid thousands of dollars to copy.

This takes him away from his friends, and sets him on a path that will take him to far off distant places, where he will meet many renown men.

Mainly, those in the Dervish community, on who- the film suggests- his system was based and developed from.

Though, many of the tactics shown are actually "The Movements" developed by Gurdjieff, himself...particularly those portrayed in the group scenes in the school.

All of this ties in with Gurdjieff's cult having a sort of gnostic basis, grounded in Zoroastrianism.

While the film is slow paced, it's also very intriguing - having been designed to take you through Gurdjieff's backstory (as he tells it, of course) in a very clear and straight forward way.

I say "or course", above, because Gurdjieff was basically a fraud on par with Castaneda himself...just making this crap up, the same way Castaneda did with Don Juan.

Either way, however, the scenery is amazing...and Brook uses alot of extras to create "big" scenes- which really set the tone of the film's atmosphere.

The choreography of the dances- whether those of the whirling Dervishes, or those employing Gurdjieff's own methods- are exquisitely done...with the scenes shot rather beautifully.

Alluring us, as viewers, the same way that Gurdjieff would have been allured by the great men he would meet on his journeys, while out exploring as a curious traveler, out of his element, on a hunt for answers about the very nature of his own being.

Though open ended (Gurdjieff's other books would effectively continue the story), the whole thing really is quite stunning...and draws you in, like a curious mind is drawn in to something exotic and new.

An excellent introduction to Gurdjieff, for the more visual learner.

7.5 out of 10.

It was never mentioned in the film that these dances were intended to prolong (momentary) Self-awareness in order to heighten consciousness of the dancers (not the spectators) 9 members of the Mevlevi whirling Dervishes performed similar exercises at speed moving on the lines depicted in Gurdjieff's enneagram with eyes closed at the same time as revolving without touching another. It is not generally known that a crop circle of this 9 pointed star appeared in a field in Cherhill Wiltshire UK on 17 July 1999, the centre of which illustrating the swirling spiral.

This heightened consciousness had the same effects on the participants as on psychedelic drug takers except the latter lose their self-awareness. For me this spiritual aspect of the film clashed with 'Alf Garnet' whose popularity was manifest at the time of the film release

We do not have the opportunity in our days to discover hidden powers within our soul which will enable us to have a worthy living, as real human beings. It means that there are other things, apart from the everyday cares, which start to be visible, if you really come to really understand the meaning of the movie and not superficially looking at it as movie entertainment or out of curiosity. Also, it makes us more open minded to understand and look the differences between people both in the way of life and personal characteristics. We usually dislike what we are not accustomed to, without paying attention to the fact that embracing differences in a positive way, we enlarge and enrich our soul.