http://www.milarepafilm.com/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499238

Bhutanese movie from 2006 in Tibetan language. Premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. Director: Neten Chokling Rinpoche. Lead actor: Gimyan Lodro.

The Bhutanese film industry seems to bloom, I already need both of my hands to count the movies made in the Himalayan kingdom. :) I found this movie because of a false record at imdb, I though my “favourite Bhutanese director”, Khyentse Norbu made a new movie, but it’s not his. Although it has many relations with his first film The Cup aka Phorpa (which was recently released  in the US, with a new, digital transfer and more extras). Neten Chokling played one of the monks (Lodo) in that 1999 buddhist soccer comedy, and the cinematographer is also the same. We can see another actor from that movie, too: Orgyen Tobgyal  who played Geko in The Cup playes a sorcerer in this one. One of the great things in the previous Bhutanese movies I’ve seen was that the cast consisted of real monks, hence amateur actors, including Neten Chokling. So it’s a long way from there to become a movie director, and it’s very admirable.

The story revolves around a 11th century Tibetan yogi, Milarepa, who was a real person and is quite famous in Buddhism. He left several great writings but also had a legendary life including romantic elements like magic, sorcery, love and even murder. The validity of his biography can be questioned but it’s very insightful and a great story anyway. He was born as Thöpaga and had a rough life until enlightment – which will only be the story of the second film planned for release in 2009. As a child he loses his father and his greedy aunt and uncle take away their property, and refuse to give back any of his inheritance later on. His mother sends him away to learn sorcery to take revenge and she even threatens to kill herself if he doesn’t succeed soon. Quite a troubled family compared to what I’ve seen before in movies taking place in these beautiful mountains where everyone seems to lead a simple, modest life. The scenery is still haunting, the sky is vivid blue, the Himalayas are just so beutiful that it’s impossible to shoot a bad movie there :)

Compared to similar movies I think the budget was a little low, we won’t see CGI magic and special effects and I’m not really satisfied with the cast either. It’s still a good movie with lots of goodwill and enthusiasm, and a great accomplishment from a country which only lists 10 movies altogether on imdb. I’ve had a chance to see two of those movies before (directed by Khyentse Norbu Rinpoche) and instantly gave them a 10/10 rating, so my expectations became high and they’re still are. I’m looking forward to see the next part and I hope Bhutanese monks keep making movies :)

trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=y1fSE4spGDs
behind the scenes: http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-XO0UAlwsw
rendező a kőomlásról: http://youtube.com/watch?v=GUKvrOT5wIs