3.0 out of 5 stars
Good film of a Rinpoche visiting Lo Montang, including scenes of the Dalai Lama and the villagers and their way of life, September 29, 2009
This review is from: Mustang: Hidden Kingdom [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Shown on TV in 1994. 101 minutes. Discovery. Narrated by Harrison Ford. This film follows Khamtruel Rinpoche on a three-month journey from Dharamsala to Upper Mustang in the summer of 1993 "to offer advice, guidance, and religious teaching to the people of Upper Mustang." He will also bring two young boys back to Dharamsala to receive a traditional Buddhist education.
The video opens with scenes of the Rinpoche getting ready to leave Dharamsala and having one last visit with the Dalai Lama. The Rinpoche then flies to Jomsom, and rides on horseback up the Kali Gandaki valley. He encounters Upper Mustang's deeply religious inhabitants, and gives them simple but direct advice and teachings. He also repeatedly pleads with Pasang, the lead horseman of the expedition, to give us his drinking and look after his family.
The Rinpoche finally arrives at Lo Manthang and is greeted by all the villagers and the King of Upper Mustang. He speaks to the villagers and plays a message from the Dalai Lama. The Rinpoche walks through the alleys of Lo Manthang, and visits the gompas and Pasang's house. The Rinpoche breaks down and cries as stares into Tibet, "This is the landscape of my childhood. The mountains, the silence, the vast spaces." The two young boys travel to Dharamsala with their fathers, and have a brief visit with the Dalai Lama before joing the other students at school.
I especially enjoyed seeing the Dalai Lama and the villagers and their way of life. Good filming. Very good narration. Because this was filmed in the cloudy summer, the scenery is a little washed out. I thought the film could have been tighter, maybe half the length, eliminating the same kind of scenes like the Rinpoche meeting the villagers.
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