Illumination garantie

"Enlightenment Guaranteed" is a wonderful film. Funny, visually interesting and intelligent. However, education about Buddhism is required, I think, for real appreciation of the film's layers of story telling. The independent film feeling was really charming. Ochsenknecht and Wohler work well as a comic team. The monastery scenes were fascinating and fun. There is a whole self consciousness of the play as a play that I really liked. It seemed more like small, alternative theater than film at times. I don't think this could be a commercial hit, simply because it takes a certain level of education and understanding of philosophy to get many of the jokes. The small audience, with whom I saw the film, were split down the middle. Half of them seemed as delighted as I was. Half seemed bored and restless. The German speakers near me were laughing as often and as loudly as I was. My own education in Buddhist practices was a major source of my appreciation for the film, I think. Well worth seeing, if you can find it.

Enlightenment Guaranteed may seem funny at first but in fact it's very serious and explicitly Buddhist, since it involves two German brothers and their adventures in getting into and out of Japan's Monzen Buddhist monastery. Unfortunately the only format in which it has been released in North America is German VHS with English Subtitled which is somehow disappointing but the beauty of the movie almost makes you forget this little problem, The more interesting fact is that the actors actually had to live the monastery life during the shooting: for two weeks they and the crew never left the Monzen grounds!

This movie is really quite a feast. It shows two German brothers on a trip to Japan to visit a Zen monastery. Both brothers face personal questions: one has just been left by his wife, and the other, well, that comes too late in the film for me to discuss here.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, they settle in a comfortable hotel and go out for a night on the town. Problem: where is the hotel? At first this seems comical, but it quickly becomes a serious crisis.

They sleep in cardboard boxes on the street.

The brothers' ability to deal with these problems and their other problems are examined in the light of the daily mundane tasks they take upon themselves when they arrive at the monastery.

The movie handles religion very well. It shows the value of their meditation without getting overly preachy. It shows the brothers, especially Uwe, the one whose wife left him, trying very hard to find a meaning in what they do.

The movie is about people and the deep problems people have. Some viewers might find this boring, but I found it compelling. There is no one thing I can point to, but the whole feel of the movie and the characters seemed right.

I adored this movie; it was sweet, funny, honest, beautiful, and poetic; I was smitten. As a friend of mine (a film critic) wrote to me, "I've rarely seen anything that matches form to content in such an easy and really loving way."

Loved this movie, can't find a copy of it at this point. Rented it on VHS way back. But I'd love to see it again. A heartfelt movie, a beautiful glimpse of zen life in/ and japan, a movie about brotherhood, a movie about being human. wish i could get my brother to watch it with me! -rm