UrbanWire

Khyentse Norbu, the Tibetan monk who gave us The Cup, the critically acclaimed film about a group of soccer crazy monks, which won an award at the Pusan International Film Festival in 1999, returns with another art house film about mankind's desire for the unknown and search for beauty in the mundane - stuff that don't quite go down well with the summer blockbuster-craved masses.

Travellers & Magicians is a simple tale about Dondup (played by Tshewang Dendup, a former producer with Bhutan Broadcasting Services before being cast for the role), a government officer posted in the remote outskirts of Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom. He isn't satisfied with the peaceful and beautiful meadows and mountains in Bhutan, judging from the numerous Caucasians-clad-in-bikinis calendars on his walls.

Instead, we see his Westernised ways - he wears Nike sneakers and carries a boom box playing English music - and his naked desires to live the American dream. Soon, he packs his suitcase for America to "pick apples". He misses his bus to get out of the rural area and decides to travel the road. Along the way, he meets a Buddhist monk (Sonam Kinga) and an apple seller.

The monk dispels their boredom on the road with a story about Tashi (Lhakpa Dorji), a sorcery student who hankers after a place with women and ends up in the house of an old man who has a beautiful young wife named Deki (Deki Yangzom). He is seduced by her and ends up having an affair with her. In the end, Tashi wakes up, realising everything was just a lurid dream.

This tale by the monk parallels Dondup's journey in search of greener pastures. It forrces Dondup to question his love and abandonment of his homeland. Then, he meets Sonam (Sonam Lhamo), a simple-minded and beautiful country girl and falls for her, quitting smoking at her advice at 1 point. Soon, he finds himself making a choice in the end, whether to leave Bhutan for America or to stay behind with Sonam.

With amateurish actors struggling to speak Dzongkha - the King introduced the language only 20 years ago and a dialogue coach was hired to teach the actors on set- the film seems to be stammering and flimsy at times. The pace is extremely slow and the mood placid, but understandably given Bhutan is far from modern and only opened itself to the world in the late 60s. But therein lies the beauty, one is in awe and wonder at their way of life and the way the film was made.

It's delightful to watch a movie that is made on a bare minimum budget (the film is after all about someone walking on foot; there're no cars being smashed in slow-mo or flying helicopters) and teaching us something about the way of life, perceived from a simplistic viewpoint. Although Dondup is a character we can hardly recognise on the street, his life is a metaphor for everyone in a modern world who is seeking more satisfaction and pleasure than the mundane things we possess can offer us.

Director Khyentse Norbu may be mirroring Dondup after himself, considering Norbu has left his home country, travelling the world to promote The Cup at film festivals, and it's the correct and most honest way to tap into one's self for the basis of a story. Indeed, this is a story for the masses, for those who need to know life is more than just summer blockbuster movies.