TRAVELLERS
AND MAGICIANS
Sunday 14th at 10.00 am and
Tuesday 16th May at
8.30 pm
RUNNING TIME 108 MINUTES
RATED PG
Aust/Bhutan
SYNOPSIS:
Dondup (Tshewang Dandup), a young government official in a remote
village is eager to escape what he sees as a backward and poor
Bhutan, with its old fashioned values and traditions. He wants
to go to America and be rich like everyone else there. He sets
off in his sneakers and I Love NY T shirt, his meagre belongings
packed in a second hand Samsonite suitcase - and his ghetto
blaster. He waits for the bus and meets other travellers, and
his journey is delayed.
Review by Louise Keller:
Buddhist Bhutanese monk and filmmaker, Khyentse Norbu makes the
complex appear simple. Magically. And while his philosophical
film Travellers and Magicians appears to be an inherently simple
tale about a young man from a remote village who dreams of going
to America, there are emotional complexities bound tightly like
a spiral waiting to be released. It's a cautionary tale about
happiness; the moral reminding us that the grass is not always
greener elsewhere.
Shot in Bhutan, as was Norbu's first film The Cup, Travellers
and Magicians, in many ways, is a far more subtle film. Using
the official national language of Dzongkha (a first), and using
two parallel stories, Norbu explores the multi-faceted emotion
of desire. I especially connected with the central story of Dondup's
journey, but the story of forbidden love between Tashi the dreamer
and the wife of his elderly host, eliciting tormented passion,
lacks the desired impact by taking too long to reach its conclusion.
The artful interruptions at crucial moments leave us emotionally
adrift, allowing tension to build slowly as the parallel story
strands collide. The film's great strength is the characters,
and we warm to them all. We care most of all for charismatic
Dondup, through whose eyes we venture on the journey that seeks
to satisfy the stars (and stripes) in his eyes.
Visually, the film is extraordinary and the locations spectacular,
with breathtaking snowy peaks towering above forests of fir trees
and harsh terrain. We feel as though we can breathe in the crisp,
cool air. One of the great achievements of the film is its sense
of place, and a rare insight into the isolated region of a modern-day
Shangri-La.
It's ironic that the reason Dondup misses his bus, propelling
him on his journey, is because he is held up by locals wheeling
a giant phallus - no doubt destined for hanging from the eaves
of one of the village's houses. It seems incongruous in this
society where modesty prevails, that there exists such an obsession
about the phallus. Considered to be a sign of power that wards
off evil spirits, the phallus represents both the human form
as a symbol of wisdom and opposite impulse, when displayed beside
a dagger.
It is with special interest that I enter the world of Travellers
and Magicians. In a way I feel as though I have been on the sidelines
observing, while reading Bunty Avieson's book 'A Baby in a Backpack
in Bhutan' which canvasses her experiences as partner to the
film's Australian producer, Mal Watson. We gain a sense of the
unique culture, the good nature of the people of the tiny kingdom
of Bhutan, and an insight into how non-actors were recruited
for the film.
Calming and meditative, Travellers and Magicians is for the
most part, a taste of tranquillity. Perhaps we are all travellers
and magicians on a journey searching for our destination. Or
is the destination the journey itself?
Review by Andrew L. Urban:
If you want to squeeze Travellers and Magicians into a genre,
or give it a label, you could say it's a mix of pastoral and
road movie, with a touch of parable. Kyentse Norbu, Bhutan's
first and so far only filmmaker, is not confined by labels
and he's not too concerned with the conventions of genre. The
Cup, a well received debut which was both a comedy and a wry
social documentary, revealed his sensitivities. His new film
stays within the cultural confines of his native Buhtan, but
he again explores the yearning for things western that The
Cup (soccer) broached. This time, he is a tad more explicit
in his views, showing the surface appeal of the West (specifically
America) as a contrast to the humanistic values of his homeland.
But he doesn't make it seem quite so didactic. Subtly, he points
to the treasures to be found in what one has, as distinct from
what one may dream about - in ignorance of the reality.
The structure of the film is simple but effective: a young man,
a minor local official but with the trappings of a cool dude
by way of T shirt and sneakers, sets off from a village to find
a future of great wealth in America. On the way, he encounters
other travellers, and one of them, a monk , tells a story that
becomes the story within the story, an allegorical, dream-like
element. Or is it the young man's drunken nightmare?
Naturalism comes naturally to Norbu and his cast, mostly regular
Bhutanese, rather than pro actors. The ravishing landscape adds
almost tangibly to the film's texture, and re-sets our cultural
and cinematic clocks to his.
The gentle narrative, the sense of subtle and worldly humour
play against the simplicity of the film, and combined, seduces
us to go along with the languid pace. It never confronts us,
but it still manages to pose some questions as it glides into
the lives of all its characters.
Source: www.urbancinefile.com.au
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