This is the first Bhutanese film that I have ever watched and guess what, it won my heart. Mostly I have preferred thriller, horror or action films, even I haven't watched any romantic genre films for a long time, and this time picked a simple drama. This film was written and directed by the same person named Pawo Choyning Dorji, released in 2019.
Lemme start with an impression that I got at the beginning of the movie so that you guys can relate to the story. Have any of you watched The Miracle(Mucize, Turkish name) ? A Turkish film, if you have then you might feel the same as I did, otherwise, it's okay, that's also a great film to watch.
So the film starts with a character who is a young teacher, Ugyen. He lives in Thimphu, serving the govt as a teacher for his mandatory five years period to serve and four years have already been passed. But he doesn't like this profession, wants to be a singer, and also wants to leave this country and go to Australia. That could be an easy image to portray for many like the countries he belongs to.
Anyhow he wants to leave this profession and fly for his dreams, but he has yet one year to fulfill as a govt service. And this time he was assigned to teach in a remote village named Lunana, which has an altitude of around 5000 meters and the population is around 60. It's said to be the remotest school in the world. It takes eight days of trekking to reach there. These are the scenes that gave me the impression of the Mucize movie, but soon after I was sunk into the story so deep that I didn't think anything left and right, just kept going with the flow. The villagers are too happy to have him but what about him? Nope, he isn't happy at all, leaving behind all his comfort and preferences, he is stuck with no facilities and a profession that he doesn't want at all.
Well, so far hearing the story one might say, "I know what's going to happen throughout the rest of the movie, he will feel sad, things will start to change, his heart will melt for them, and so on." That's true, the whole movie is predictable, just a little bit from the ending went out of my prediction, that's not a big deal for now. The thing I wanna highly mention is that the way this whole simple predictable story was represented before us is worthy of praise. On top of that, all the scenarios from the top of the mountains are fascinating, your eyes won't feel bored watching those beautiful beauties in the background.
About the naming, Lunana and after that A Yak in the classroom. They have tried to show their culture too, their respect and gratefulness towards Yak, also a few stories about Yak which made it an unavoidable portion of the movie.
If I talk a little bit more about the story then I might say that the story carries a huge social message, some precious learning, one could easily see how privileged they are compared to those people from the village. Also, there is a saying that teachers have the ability to touch the future. They have immense respect for teachers that made Ugyen realize his responsibilities. Also the village leader Asha, little girl Pem Zam and Saldon were very impressive with their characters and would impact the audience to remember them like I am recalling those faces and their performance.
Trust me this is a good film to watch. A simply enjoyable drama yet the ending, ok, won't give any spoiler but it carries an overall refreshing impression. Anyone can consider watching the film, personally I loved it, it was worth it. Happy Watching!
Sad how Bhutan getting enlisted in the celebration of world cinema comparing to us!
Yeap, our one is dying or already dead.
tbh it should die completely by this time. Then there can be a fresh beginning from the ashes.