If this movie were available, I am sure that it would be far more popular. It is a quite wonderful movie with a story unlike any other I have seen. A monk who has been cloistered most of his life, living in silence, must fly from France to Indonesia to get a signature to renew the property lease for his monastery. The poor fellow is quite unfamiliar with modern ways and to make matters worse, he develops claustrophobia on the plane and exits at its first stop - in India. His seat-mate, a savvy young black woman from New York, becomes his traveling companion. Yes, it is a road movie, but not a run of the mill road movie. This is a movie about decent people trying to do the decent thing in trying circumstances. The performances are wonderful, the scenery exotic, and the story full of emotional nuance as we watch two very different people learn to appreciate each other. I watched this in Austria - a friend had a videotape. To date, I have been unable to find this available on DVD. A shame, because it deserves wider recognition.
4 Reviews
A truly happy story about humility
hschift18 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
As often such films tell the story on different levels at the same time: The background story in the confessional allows to follow the story step by step, but more important is to see the parish priest who is in an uncomfortable situation between ambition and humility. The monk, the living example of a live in humility, surprises him with a confession that turns his own judgements upside down. By getting out of his cell in the cartusian monastry at La Valsainte, during his journey he breaks every vow, the cornerstones of his life in humility. Instead of being naive, he demonstrates that he - as a person until then far away from any worldly seduction - has all a gifts to master a live in the real world. Maybe still being naive, but with the help of an angel companion who has to find her own story, that of being a child of a mother who had the same destiny as her. At the same time Fried, the monk, becomes her angel and spiritual advisor. But not as the monk, but as a father, as a friend, as a lover. It might end up as a love story, but it is more a story of sympathy, redemption, and valdiation. For a Christian, every part of this story sounds like an unexpected trip like that of Saint Paul. For others, the alliance between the two main characters, supported by all the persons they meet, shows that destiny might show everybody a little more about the truths behind the daily trouble. In the end, the parish priests accepts that the monk did not just tell him his story, but would also be the perfect confessor who has more experience and in-depth knowledge about the ways the world works. A truly happy story.
A movie which has time
fora-027888 March 2020
It's a road movie without being a road movie. It's a movie about reflection an truth withuot being moralic. Maybe "the staight story" is somewhat similar to this movie. Interesting is the fact that they had to conceil the camera as they would not have gotten the rights to turn a movie everywhere. It may be hard to get a copy as even in Europe the movie is sold out. But who knows with the more an more availyble online streaming services, maybe the movie will become again available. If you like slow movies try to grab it!
strange but beautiful
mf1229 May 2000
Panzer's story is strange in a beautiful way. A monk who falls in love with a young black girl is really unusual. But I had no problems to accept his characters. There is a real development in the relationship of the two. Something that I miss in the most (especially Hollywood) movies.
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