Enlightenment Guaranteed

I took a change with my movie rental dollars when I grabbed ENLIGHTENMENT GAURANTEED at the video store and found it to be a delightful, low budget picture. It's a German PLANES, TRAINS and AUTOMOBILES with spiritual overtones. The two main characters, who are brothers, make their way to a Japanese (Buddhist) Monastery to escape their lives and their troubles. The trip to the Monastery is great. However, once at the Monastery the film slows down too much. Too many shots of people banging drums in ritualistic bliss. Thankfully, the film soon picks up again with main characters gaining new perspectives on life. Throughout the film cemeteries, homeless people and ravens are referenced leaving the viewer to figure some things out on their own. If you like funny, semi-deep movies with no effects or explosions you may really dig this. Curiously, the actors used their real names for their characters which explians why Petra's kids look just like her.

Loved this movie, can't find a copy of it at this point. Rented it on VHS way back. But I'd love to see it again. A heartfelt movie, a beautiful glimpse of zen life in/ and japan, a movie about brotherhood, a movie about being human. wish i could get my brother to watch it with me! -rm

This movie is really quite a feast. It shows two German brothers on a trip to Japan to visit a Zen monastery. Both brothers face personal questions: one has just been left by his wife, and the other, well, that comes too late in the film for me to discuss here.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, they settle in a comfortable hotel and go out for a night on the town. Problem: where is the hotel? At first this seems comical, but it quickly becomes a serious crisis.

They sleep in cardboard boxes on the street.

The brothers' ability to deal with these problems and their other problems are examined in the light of the daily mundane tasks they take upon themselves when they arrive at the monastery.

The movie handles religion very well. It shows the value of their meditation without getting overly preachy. It shows the brothers, especially Uwe, the one whose wife left him, trying very hard to find a meaning in what they do.

The movie is about people and the deep problems people have. Some viewers might find this boring, but I found it compelling. There is no one thing I can point to, but the whole feel of the movie and the characters seemed right.

Shown at the MIFF as 'The Bridge in the Rain' (why? I dunno).

I almost didn't see this film as it sounded as if it could easily have been another of those 'mundane' foreign films but no, it was excellent.

Gustav, who originally intended to go to the Tokyo monastery, is the type who gets lost in supermarkets. The other brother, Uwe, ends up going along after drowning his sorrows when his wife leaves him. Unfortunately, Uwe seems to fit right in with the strict monastery life, much to Gustav's torment! He even copes better than his brother when they get lost and separated in Tokyo. They both have personal torment and sibling rivalry which is equally engaging and funny.

The monastery is in quiet, idyll surroundings out of Tokyo. A memorable line which hits home if you live in a big city comes in the form of a saying about 'hate' and anger - but I won't give it away.

I thought that the story could have gone in any number of possible directions with equally enjoyable results.

I also think that filming this on video and using footage from the video camera in the film enhanced the realism. A very memorable film.

I adored this movie; it was sweet, funny, honest, beautiful, and poetic; I was smitten. As a friend of mine (a film critic) wrote to me, "I've rarely seen anything that matches form to content in such an easy and really loving way."