Bhutan…Land of the Thunder Dragon

One of my favorite books growing up was James Hilton's Lost Horizon, in which survivors from a plane crash on the Tibetan plateau find themselves in Shangri-la, a mythical city where no one ever ages. In 1996, while visiting the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal, I met some fellow travelers who talked about the real Shangri-la, a living museum called Bhutan, where the people still followed the ways of their ancestors by growing their own food, spinning and dyeing their own thread, and making their own clothes. In Bhutan…Land of the Thunder Dragon, filmmakers Jim and Kelly Watt--who were allowed unprecedented access to this remote and isolated country (in fact, Bhutan's king has only recently opened the borders to tourism) located between Tibet and India--provide viewers with a colorful and insightful look at this little-known society where the people still wear (admittedly by order of law) their traditional garments and live by the same Buddhist precepts as their forefathers. Nicely shot, and completely devoid of the Western prejudices found in similar productions, this lovely travel video shows Bhutan for what it is: a jewel of the Himalayan range. Sure to be a popular addition, this off the beaten track travelogue is definitely recommended. Aud: H, P. (J. Asala)