Movie: Unmistaken Child (2008)

I gasped as the camera panned over a crystal steam and showed a misty green valley shadowed by the moutains that climbers dream of.  The camera tracks characters through the otherworldly narrow passageways between rough stone buildings that could just as well have been built in Middle Ages Europe as living villages in Nepal. Not just once, but several times while watching  Unmistaken Child, I had to fight the urge to call an airline– book a flight– get to Nepal. Now!

You’ll want to travel. This is the kind of movie that could make a bump on a log turn into a wheel.

No mere travelogue,  the documentary film about a gentle Buddhist monk and his search for the reincarnation of his master, could make the staunchest practioner of any other faith more seriously consider Buddhism.

I learned so much about the culture of Nepal and the traditions of Buddhism as I watched this film. An Israel director, Nati Baratz, filmed the documentary with great sensitivity and a great eye for natural beauty of landscapes and people.

The monk who is sent on this quest, Tenzin Zopa, had spent more than twenty years serving his master, the Lama.

We’re not talking about the Dalai Lama, who as most everybody knows fled Tibet and now travels the world. But the Dalai Lama himself asks Zopa to go on this journey. Dalai Lama fans will be thrilled to see a brief appearance by His Holiness.

Dalai Lama performing ceremony with the child

Zopa served a lower-ranked but still world-famous Lama, Geshe Lama Konchog. Konchog was a man who inspired love form a multitude of people around the world and everyone in Nepal is eager to help find his reincarnation.

The younger monk grieves and explains that he truly does not know what to do next.  He has never had to think about what he is going to do, since his was the life of a follower.  Despite–or because of–this unworldliness, the lamas of his monastery recommend him for the task of finding the Rimpoche–the true reincarnation of the recently deceased. And as the movie site explains, Tenzin Zopa is in reality a pretty impressive person himself.

Prayers go up and astrological calculations fill sheets of paper.  Some clues emerge.  He must go to the valley where he was born–the valley where his late master had a stone-walled retreat on the mountainside. The second clue–the child’s father’s name starts with “A”.  Not a lot to go on, but he walks through small villages asking for a child one to one and a half years old becasue when he starts out, it has been just over a year since the lama died.

We follow along as Zopa shows little boys the rosaries he carries, until he finally finds a child who does not want to give back the rosary that had belonged to Konchog.  Zopa conducts some simple tests. Miraculously, the toddler’s favorite occupation is dragging a hose to water a particular tree–one that was planted by the lama who died. The senior monks at the monastery test the child again and he chooses all the right objects that belonged to his former self. They give him their blessing, he is presented to the Dalai Lama, and the young monk has a new master–or rather he has his old master back in a young body. The very human story of the bewilderment of the small child at having his hair cut off and being separated from his parents and the mixture of pride and grief of his parents makes this a heart wrenching story.

The child being presented to the Dalai Lama

It is a very satisfying film for traveler’s libraries. As my brother, the cynical film critic said (was that sarcasm I detected?), “You mean its even better than Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet?”  Well, yes, I preferred the documentary movie, Unmistaken Child.

I have become more and more fascinated with Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.  You can read frequently about these cultures at Wanderlust and Lipstick and Hole in the Donut.

Posts here at A Traveler’s Library on similar subjects:

• Thriller in Tibet
• The Heart of the Buddha
• The Geography of Bliss

Want to know more about Tenzin Zopa? Visit his Facebook page. But wait, there’s more. Here’s the Dalai Lama on Facebook.

Have you been to Nepal or Tibet? Have you seen the Dalai Lama? Do you practice Buddhism? Tell us about your experiences

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A Traveler’s Library has the great good fortune to talk to Peter West Carey who writes The Carey Adventures, about his People, Places, and Patterns Project. He will be traveling to Africa (including Spain and  Morocco; and then Kenya and Tanzania) and Nepal, photographing and learning about cultures along the way. And how can YOU be involved? Here goes:

Me: I  read your interview at The Mother of All Trips about PPP Project, and you talked about travel with your daughter. How old is your daughter and how will she be involved in this trip?

Peter West Carey: My daughter Sabrina, who is 8, will be joining me on the Africa leg of the trips.  Taking her to Africa was really the origin on this trip.  While the trip has some certain idyllic aspects (riding camels, going on safari) I also want to expose her to vastly different lifestyles, while showing her some of the commonality we all share.  And she finally had enough frequent flyer miles to make the trip less expensive. [Ed. Note: That is one Well-traveled little girl!]
Just tonight I started talking to her about doing the presentation at her school.  Her eyes lit up.   She sounded rather excited about being able to tell all the other kids about what she saw–even before she sees it!  While she won’t be with me for the 50 school, 10 library and 20 community group presentations I have planned before the end of 2010, I’d love to have her share the experience from her perspective as well.

PWK: It’s actually three locations but two trips.  Africa will be one trip, combining Spain (still not part of Africa, but close) and Morocco as one section and Kenya and Tanzania as the other.  Nepal is a separate trip about a month after getting back from Africa.   I had previously been to Nepal and the offer to climb a 20,000′ peak was intriguing.

After making these general plans… I knew I was going to take my camera gear…  But then the question came: why?  Sure, I have plans to sell some photos and write some stories to help pay the rent. I don’t believe all travel needs to have lofty reason (I very much enjoy sitting on a beach for a week at a time) but I wanted this trip to have a bit more life to it. That’s when I came up with the concept of a slideshow/presentation.

I had previously noted on my blog that I’d be concentrating on people photography in future travels.  So that was one.  Places seemed obvious as I wanted to give [conext to their lives].  And patterns have been a facination of mine for the past year, but I’ve never concentrated on them in a meaningful way.  Natural, man-made, symmetric…they all catch my eye…  Combining all three, I’d like to show how life, .. is the same in these distant locations  as well as how it differs from life back home.  I hope exposure to those threads and how they weave through vastly different cultures can bring about some understanding and tolerance in the view. [and some curiosity leading to travel].

Me: At A Traveler’s Library, we always would like to know–are there good travel books (or movies) that inspired you to travel?

PWK: I loved [amazonify]1570610835::text::::Voyage of a Summer Sun: Canoeing the Columbia River[/amazonify].  It hit close to home and has put “Kayak the Columbia River” on my list of life goals.

[also loved] [amazonify]078670621::text::::Endurance,Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage[/amazonify] defines how you lead, take risks and bring all your men home safely.

Right now I’m reading [amazonify]0217718817::text::::Farthest North[/amazonify] (the version edited by John Krakauer) about Nansen’s attempt to reach the North Pole.  Those types of books show me a lot of what it takes to really preserver in difficult situations and what type of character is needed for certain types of travel.  While I don’t plan on going on …a multi-year sledging trip to either pole, they do inspire me to learn more about those cold, distant, and often forgotten places on Earth.

PWK: There are three things I need help with for this trip:

1. Make a pledge to the People, Places and Patterns Project. The funding for this project[through kickstarter.com] works on the principle that a project must receive pledges for the entire goal or no funds are dispersed.  [Peter is over 27% of the way to his goal of raising $10,000 by February 16.] Any help is appreciated and pledges start as low as $1.

2. [Suggest]… connections at schools and community groups, starting in my local Puget Sound region and then expanding out from there.  I already have invites from schools in Utah, Oregon and California and I’d love to make the presentations as widely available as possible.

3. Spread the word!  This project is backed by no large corporation or media outlet (yet!) so word of mouth is key to its success.  As the date gets closer I’ve had some amazing response from complete strangers offering to help… It’s a wonderful use of the internet and interviews like this are greatly appreciated!!

Thanks so much for dropping by, Peter. We’ll try out your books, and perhaps you will come back with more complete reviews of a favorite of yours once this project is complete. And readers, do take a look at Peter’s web site and consider supporting his trip in one of the three ways he suggests. After all, we can’t have too much mutual understanding in this world. [If you make a purchase at Amazon by following the link from one of the books suggested here, I'll donate the income to Peter.]

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.