Video: "Seneca" by Bardo State, with scenes from Eric Valli's film "Himalaya"
Posted by kluciole at 3/7/2009 11:22 AM 
Categories: news, History, Photography, Metaphysical, love, Video, International, Travel, Cultures, Art
Categories: news, History, Photography, Metaphysical, love, Video, International, Travel, Cultures, Art
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Official site:
http://www.kino.com/himalaya/
Himalaya (1999)
Director: Eric Valli
Stars: Thilen Lhondup, Gurgon Kyap, Karma Wangel, Karma Tensing
Release Company: Kino International
MPAA Rating: NR
The opening scene alone with the feet of a caravan of yaks kicking up the dust as we hear Buddhist chanting mixed in with Bruno Coulais' ethereal musical score lets us know that we are in for a wonderful experience. Valli delivers. Far superior to the misguided Seven Years in Tibet, Valli's film deals with similar cultural territory to Scorsese's magical Kundun while having a format that parallels the remarkable Iranian film A Time for Drunken Horses (Bahman Ghobadi).
Like Ghobadi's film, Himalaya focuses on the struggle of a small group of people from a village that has relied on tradition and Religion to maintain their subsistence lifestyle high in the Nepalese Himalayas. As the aging Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) discusses how the village will require much more grain to survive the long winter with his grandson Pasang (played by the young, scene-stealing Karma Wangle), the caravan returns with the village chief, who has accidentally fallen to his death. The village chief happens to be Tinle's son, and the angered old man unjustly blames Karma (Gurgon Kyap) for his son's death.
Complicating the situation is the fact that logic dictates the most capable man must lead the next caravan to exchange salt for grain, and Karma is the choice of the wiser heads of the village. But this decision is now adamantly opposed by Tinle, who now insists that he will again lead the caravan with his old yak and other old men.
Meanwhile, Karma decides that they must leave four days earlier than the llamas divine through the stars, so we have the outline of a classic metaphorical journey taking shape. Will it be the younger generation to prevail with their more modern and analytical ways, or will it be the older traditionalists? And what about Tinle's second son, Norbu (Karma Tensing), now a Buddhist monk and expert muralist?
All of the article: HERE
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