UNMISTAKEN CHILD

     I have not seen many documentaries on on Buddhism, although there have been many features from Ronald Colman's 1930s magical mystery tour in Lost Horizon to more recent ventures with Brad Pitt (Seven Years in Tibet) and Keanu Reeves (Little Buddha) which somehow imagines a nice blond child from San Francisco as the reincarnation of a buddha.

     Which brings us to this documentary, probably the first authentic venture into the process of finding a reincarned lama, or the unmistaken child of the title.  At the very center of this search and this film is Geshe Tenzin Zopa.  Geshe is the term used for a learned, scholar and teacher, and is usually someone who has spent their life in a monstery studying the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism.  Tenzin is part of the Mahayana lineage of Tibetan Buddhism which looks to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as their direct leader.

     Tenzin Zopa decided, as a child, that he would follow his great teacher when he encountered him in seclusion just above the village where he lived.  He tells us about this encounter as we see him visit this very cave during his search.  The film begins with  Tenzin telling us about the death of this lama to whom he has devoted his life, tears streaming as he describes his master reassuring him that he will return.  After some discussions with other masters and reading of various signs, Tenzin Zopa sets out to find the child born around the time of this death.

     Nati Baratz happened upon Tenzin Zopa during a teaching during his travels in Tibet.  Baratz describes himself as an unofficial Buddhist in the sense that he has not committed himself to a teacher or to the path, but after listening to Tenzin Zopa speak, he knew he had to capture him, that there was a film here.  There will always be something fascinatingly exotic about Tibetan Buddhism to westerners who do not experience the rituals as part of our culture.  One of the primary fascinations is the concept or idea of reincarnation: it becomes also the idea that is most repeated, revered and even mocked.  So Baratz was correct that the combination of a very telegenic monk plus an inside look at reincarnation are rife for visual documentation.

     If any monk can become a star, Tenzin Zopa is the one.  He has both a physical and spiritual beauty about him that makes him a natural, and he his blessedly fresh, unaffected and absolutely sincere.  We (and Baratz) follow him through rough country amongst villages with people living very simply.  In fact Baratz had to develop a solar powered battery for his camera that was then carried on horseback as they trekked behind the monk. 

     It's not really a spoiler to say that they do identify a child and that he is presented to the higher ups for approval.  But this is Tenzin Zopa's film and I challenge anyone to come away from it not wanting to follow him.   

Unmistaken Child opens on June 12, 2009.

Written and directed by Nati Baratz.

With: Tenzin Zopa; H.H. Dalai Lama.