I have featured films about Tibetan Buddhism by the great German documentarian, Clemens Kuby, before on this site. This though is, I believe, the first film that he made, in 1986. It is set in a remote village in Ladakh, a country having only 100,000 inhabitants at that time, and before the influx of “the modern world”.
It centres on two stories: that of the village lāma, who returned to his home village when the Chinese took over Tibet. He is a highly respected man, both for his learning, for his asceticism and consequent powers. We see his life in the village, and also at his remote mountain retreat above the village.
The second story concerns a young man, in love with a young lady in the village, who is so desperate he goes to an astrologer, who gives him a magic mantra that binds her to him. But he regrets acquiring her hand this way, as it involved black magic.
We also see many cameos about the villagers, their thoughts and ideas and the way they live in the village. It is by no means idyllic, and sometimes very tough indeed, but because of their way of life, in which they all work together, they pull through.
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