Something is rotten in the state (well, mountain hamlets) of Tibet. The Prince Hamlet here is Milarepa Thopaga, an eleventh-century yogi, before he becomes the enlightened mila-repa. After his father's death, the uncle denies him his inheritance and the aunt tells his mother: "If you are many, make war. If you are few, cast spells." The mother, an avid watcher of anime, I assume, takes this advice literally and sends away his son to learn sorcery and take revenge. Unlike Hamlet, Thopaga does not spend much time conflicted about the revenge, or whether collective punishment is justified.
The story's sole conflict is really the uncle and his cronies giving chase, and that's the biggest problem with the film, being a Hagiographical biopic, and not venturing to ask him any of the big question. But maybe Hamlet and Edmond Dantes would have been just fine if they had discovered Buddhism.
Landscape shots, especially at the beginning of the film are stunning, but color-correcting filters are over-used and the cgi is lame.
Apparently a second feature concerning the post-enlightenment milarepa was scheduled to be released in 2009, but was later scrapped.
