Angry Monk: Reflections on Tibet

This biography/travelogue by Swiss writer-director Luc Schaedler should be subtitled “Glimpses of Tibet and India” because few scenes last for more than seconds, whether of the archival film or new footage beautifully shot in the streets and monasteries by cameraman Filip Zumbrunn. Featuring narration by Thomas Sarbacher, Loten Hamling, and Phil Hayes, Angry Monk traces the path of Gendun Choephel, a Buddhist monk, writer, and artist (1903-1951), who left Tibet and the monastic life to wander in India for 12 years. When Choephel returned home in 1947 to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, he was falsely accused as a spy and imprisoned. In ill health, Choephel was released from prison after three years, but he refused to obey a government order to stop writing his history of Tibet, and only lived a short time after being freed (although long enough to be carried to a window to see the Chinese troops march into Lhasa in 1951). Controlled for centuries by what Schaedler calls “an unholy alliance of the aristocracy and the monastic establishment,” Tibet has now been ruled for more than a half-century by China and occupied by a flood of Chinese immigrants. Choephel is revered today for his efforts to open the tradition-bound country to the wider world and for helping its people begin to learn Tibet's real history, rather than just its mythology. DVD extras include extracts from Choephel's writings. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Zoretich)