Longing and Loyalty
Movie Review of 'Travelers &
Magicians'
Volume 74, Number 39 | February 2 - 8,
2005TRAVELERS AND
MAGICIANSDirected by Khyentse
NorbuIn Dzongkha with English
subtitlesPrayer Flag
PicturesQuad
CinemaDondup,
played by Tshewang Dendup, is eager to leave his homeland behind, that is until
he meets Sonam, portrayed by Sonam Lhamo,
who is the very embodiment of Bhutanese traditional
culture.Longing and
LoyaltyOut of a
Himalayan kingdom, myths of travel and
traditionBy SETH J.
BOOKEYIf you've been jonesing for a
Bhutanese film, you are in luck: "Travelers & Magicians" is making its U.S.
debut. Bhutan, in case you don't know, is a Buddhist kingdom nestled in the
eastern Himalayas between Tibet and India. Until 1960, this mostly agricultural
nation didn't have currency or even a written
language.But, as in much of the rest of
the developing world, the intervening 45 years have brought to the Bhutanese
people a fear of too much
Westernization.In "Travelers &
Magicians," we are introduced to Dondup (Tshewang Dendup), a government official
posted in a remote, tiny village. He wears his hair long, much to the
consternation of some village elders, and covers the walls of his room with
cheesecake posters of Western girl singers. Dondup is eager to leave Bhutan,
hoping that a friend in the U.S. will help him get out. The quiet life of the
village is animated only by an archery contest and a housewarming that involves
the delivery of a large, white, wooden phallus, illustrative of the fact that
sex in Bhutan does not carry the same taboos as is in neighboring India, Tibet
and China.When he finally does get the
letter he's been waiting for from his friend, Dondup races to catch a bus to the
nearest larger town where he can apply for a visa. But two village elders slow
him down and he misses the bus. Soon after, his boom box batteries die and he
spends a small eternity hoping for a ride. An elderly man with a basket full of
apples soon arrives, as does a monk (Sonam Kinga), both also looking for a ride.
Dondup, angry at the competition, moves further down the road as a New Yorker
might do to improve chances of catching a
cab.But Bhutan's mountain roads are not
like Western highways, and motor vehicles are few and far between. Dondup begins
walking, and is soon rejoined by the old man and the monk for the evening. He is
dependent on his two new companions for food, since he scornfully chucked the
dried cheese an old woman in the village had given him for his
journey.The bus ride to and from the
larger town is a two-day trip and going on foot will take forever, so the
filmmaker Khyentse Norbu wisely adds a parallel tale, told by the monk, about
Tashi (Lhakpa Dorji), a young man who is also eager to leave his little village
behind. When Taski leaves, he falls in love with Deki (Deki Yangzom), who is
married to an older man. Things turn edgy when Deki begins to slowly poison her
husband.Meanwhile, Dondup and his fellow
travelers are joined by a man who makes rice paper, and his beautiful young
daughter Sonam (Sonam Lhamo). The story of Tashi is woven in and out of
DondupÕs tale and, as it is told, we can see an attraction growing between
Dondup, who is eager to leave Bhutan, and Sonam, whose beauty and innocence
personifies the small, isolated nation he seems eager to leave. By thetime
Dondup parts from Sonam, getting a ride on a primitive tractor, it is clear that
he is torn about what to do. HeÕs spent his entire journey complaining
about how heÕd make more money picking apples in America than he ever would
as a government official in Bhutan, but having been forced to slow down while
pursuing his visa application has given him time to really think about his
future. He now wonders whether life will really be better in the
U.S.Bhutan has a lively film industry,
but many of its films are stories centered on the entrapment of love.
ÒTravelers & MagiciansÓ is a bit of a departure, depicting the
culture clash brought on by modernization and focusing on a young manÕs
desire to leave his homeland. Bhutan itself, the inspiration for the mythic
Shangri-La, is one of the stars of this film. Every scene is panoramic, with
undulating mountains in the background serrated by curving
roads.Despite the beautiful scenery, the
movie often progresses slowly--after all it charts a walk of hundreds of miles
through the Himalayas. The story is permeated with Buddhist themes that may be
unfamiliar to American viewers. And while the allure of Western culture may come
as second nature for audiences in New York, the internal crisis unleashed when
somebody raised in Bhutan considers abandoning an ancient culture is
profound.
Posted: Wed - February 2, 2005 at 11:27 PM
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Published On: Jun 20, 2009 07:03 PM
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