The line for Fahrenheit 911 nearly stretched out the door, but we went instead to see Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, a Korean movie about a Buddhist monk. We were two of 4 people in the entire theater.
Afterwards I wanted to scream at the masses that got instead sucked into 911, which we will all forget about anyway in a few years. Whereas, in a thousand years, I think this stripped down tale of a Buddhist monk and his cyclic existence will still speak to people. It isn't nearly as exciting as putting on face-paint and waving your private parts defiantly at your enemy, true. But soon enough a new chieftain will take power, and some new instance of tribal warfare will claim your short attention span; some new pair of genitalia will emerge and wave defiantly.
(Well now that you have my take on politics...)
Then again you have Howard Schumann's review of this movie which is none too favorable, calling it "labored" and "inauthentic." Well maybe so; seems to me he's probably just pissed off because this is Buddhism for the masses & is an affront to some perceived personal expertise of his on the subject. Demanding that the director himself be Buddhist...whatever. Thank god he wasn't otherwise he never would have made the movie. And, you never would have had the chance to shoot it down Mr. I-have-reviewed-262-movies-thus-far-smarty-pants.
Posted by Alan at June 28, 2004 11:30 PMCame across your posting just today. I never said the director had to be a Buddhist to understand its meaning. My wife is not a Buddhist but engages in its practices and follows its philosophy. This film is not Buddhism for the masses. In fact, it's not Buddhism at all. It is simply the director's attempt to capitalize on the growing spiritual awareness by providing the form without the substance.
He even brags that he knows nothing at all about Buddhism yet offers a film supposedly about Buddhist themes. As I said in my review, a person brought up in the Buddhist tradition is taught compassion and loving kindness and not to kill or harm any sentient being including small creatures, even insects. The fact that the character in the film engages in jealousy, revenge, and murder is simply not credible for someone brought up by a monk to live in the Buddhist tradition. This type of ersatz spirituality is worse than no spirituality at all,
Posted by: Howard Schumann at February 19, 2005 10:37 PM