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Documentary film about the largest Buddhist ritual to promote peace and tolerance, held by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya, India and Graz, Austria in 2002, including exclusive interviews with the Dalai Lama, access to secret rituals for the first time on film as well as footage of a pilgrimage to the Holy Mount Kailash in Tibet.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Through this unique documentary you will have the chance to witness the Kala Chakra (=wheel of time) ritual and to watch and feel the authentic spirituality and strength of the Tibetan people.
I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Buddhism, Tibet and Asia in general.
There are no subtitles, but the language is easy to understand even if English is not your mother tongue.
I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Buddhism, Tibet and Asia in general.
There are no subtitles, but the language is easy to understand even if English is not your mother tongue.
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
This film will be of special interest to you if you're a follower of the ways of Buddha, or if you want to see just how important the Dalai Lama is to them. Herzog finds himself in the midst of a huge wave of people from China, India, Thailand and other Buddhist countries who have travelled - in some cases thousands of miles on their hands and knees prostating themselves every third step - to Bodh Gaya in India, to observe the ritual of Kala Chakra, the Wheel of Time. This is a highly important moment in their calendar, which takes place irregularly once every three or four years.
The Wheel of Time is represented by a huge picture made painstakingly by monks from coloured sand, and is a map of sorts - a diagram of the internal end external regions of the universe and mind (I am not a follower, so this interpretation is based only on my viewing of this film). There's some lovely footage of the monks using little metal pourers as they laboriously put the sand in the right places, almost grain by grain.
Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama was too ill to conduct the ritual so he had to tell all those thousands of people that the ceremony was cancelled - you can imagine the disappointment! Stoical to the last, they don't complain. Instead he holds the ceremony in Graz, Austria the following year: a very different affair. It's interesting to contrast the east and west like this.
I'm a big fan of Werner, and I feel that he was unable to 'get inside' his subjects here like he usually does - they are simply too numerous, and he has difficulty in finding English speakers to converse with; as a result, his interaction with them is greatly reduced. We are left to spectate - and the sights are amazing - but the essential Werner magic was kept by necessity to a minimum, I feel.
My mother is a Buddhist, and I bought this for her in preperation for her attendance at the Dalai Lama's appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in June; it will serve as an appetiser for what she can look forward to - even though he is not in that much of the footage here, the significance of the man to huge numbers of the world's population is plain to see.
The Wheel of Time is represented by a huge picture made painstakingly by monks from coloured sand, and is a map of sorts - a diagram of the internal end external regions of the universe and mind (I am not a follower, so this interpretation is based only on my viewing of this film). There's some lovely footage of the monks using little metal pourers as they laboriously put the sand in the right places, almost grain by grain.
Unfortunately, the Dalai Lama was too ill to conduct the ritual so he had to tell all those thousands of people that the ceremony was cancelled - you can imagine the disappointment! Stoical to the last, they don't complain. Instead he holds the ceremony in Graz, Austria the following year: a very different affair. It's interesting to contrast the east and west like this.
I'm a big fan of Werner, and I feel that he was unable to 'get inside' his subjects here like he usually does - they are simply too numerous, and he has difficulty in finding English speakers to converse with; as a result, his interaction with them is greatly reduced. We are left to spectate - and the sights are amazing - but the essential Werner magic was kept by necessity to a minimum, I feel.
My mother is a Buddhist, and I bought this for her in preperation for her attendance at the Dalai Lama's appearance at the Royal Albert Hall in June; it will serve as an appetiser for what she can look forward to - even though he is not in that much of the footage here, the significance of the man to huge numbers of the world's population is plain to see.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is a very interesting reportage about the kalachakra ceremony both in India and in Austria. There is a very wide range of people attending the ceremony and it shows us what happens there with a window onto another part of Buddhism and pilgrimages in other parts of the country. Unfortunately there is very little shown about the Dalai Lama and I was a bit disappointed by it. But I loved the fact that we can ear the people there speaking their own language. I also found that the cameraman was very cheeky and he played too much at making people feel very uneasy by blocking the camera on some particular characters for far too long (I wouldn't have been surprised if someone had eventually punched him!), he was lucky that Buddhists are pacific. All around a good documentary, but don't expect much in the teachings of the Dali Lama. In general this is ok for a very general overview of this ceremony. It is also interesting to see the trumendous gap from India and Austria. It makes me admire even more the Dalai Lama for his facility to blend into both world.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
meaning of life
Inspiring! The stories within stories within stories, that leads to self reflection and a deep appreciation of life. Read more
Published 9 months ago by samwin
WHEEL OF TIME REVIEW BY NEIL HAMILTON
LOOK AT THIS FILM AND EVEN BREATH THE ESSENCE OF PEACEFUL HUMANITY AT WORK .
Published 13 months ago by Mr. N. Hamilton
Great filmography - no substance
German filmmaker Werner Herzog as usual is exceptional at film and captures everyday life of Buddhists on their pilgrimage to Bhod Gaya. Read more
Published on 31 May 2010 by bernie
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