Unmistaken Child

Unmistaken Child is a beautiful film! Traveling along with Tenzin Zopa through the hills and fields is very enjoyable. It felt like I was actually there, experiencing the journey with him.

I thought it would be impossible for a single man to find THE one little boy that could not be mistaken for anyone other than the reincarnate of Geshe Lama Konchog. However, while watching the film, I began to believe that Tenzin was actually capable of the task that he was assigned. He knew what he needed to do to accomplish the task, and he had loads of patience and determination to find the one little boy.

Learning the process of searching for the reincarnate of the deceased lama is very interesting and beautiful.

I think everybody could find something interesting about this film because it's an insightful look into the world of reincarnation and Buddhism.

Before watching this this well-made documentary I had been interested in Buddhism, but now have lost all respect for the Tibetan form.

The film follows a Buddhist priest from village to village and he inquires about likely candidates, examines and tests, looking for "special" traits, until finally he selects one who is clearly advanced in comparison with the others, bright-eyed and intelligent--a precocious toddler whose parents are clearly distressed, as is the child, when he is finally removed from his loving parents to be raised by monks.

Any belief system that promotes the taking of children from perfectly good families is utter barbarism. Such cruelty cannot be defended nor condoned on any level except domination and mind control. How better to subjugate a people than to take the best and brightest of their children and brainwash the public into believing this is for some divine purpose. Such a practice is repugnant to the extreme.

The child's selections of beads and trinkets is proof of nothing but a precocious ability to read queues from the facial expressions and body language of those surrounding him. It was theater staged to subjugate the gullible.

In Unmistaken Child, Baratz paints his viewers a very clear picture of the role faith plays in the lives of modern Tibetan Buddhist "Clergy".

I use the word "paints" above because beauty permeates the film in every aspect; from a deep look into the Eastern culture to the psychosocial intermingling of love, faith and family. Altogether, The film offers an astounding experience.

My only qualm with the film is the lack of a realistic amount of counter "evidence". After some time, I couldn't help thinking that the young costar's behavior was a little too "on point".

To counter this, Baratz does little explaining and opinion stating. Thus, the viewer's cognitive and emotional interaction with the film come quite naturally. Creating his or her own opinion of the scenario, the viewer is engrossed in a wellspring of previously unexplored trails of thought. One begins to see the film, not as evidence of some truth, but as a window peering into the truth of another.

If Eastern culture, spirituality, or real life drama interest you in the least, watch Unmistaken Child ASAP. It is available to stream on the leading online movie rental website :).

What does loyalty mean to you? For Tenzin Zopa, the central character, who we follow as the plot of this documentary uncovers, it definitely means a lot. Moreover, loyalty and faithfulness to his master Geshe Lama Konchong is central not only to the narration of this movie, but to his even individual character. Lama's Heart Disciple's quest to find his master's reincarnated body touches you upon multiple vectors it takes: depth of personal relations between Tenzin and Lama before he died, and after with his reincarnated self; numerous Buddhist traditions that we see following Tenzin on his quest; and central to this movie the peaceful meditative state you are to acquire. Despite the central to Buddhism notion of non-attachment, this movie shows the close connection between Lama and his disciple that they acquired during the 21 years of their solitary retreat, and that Tenzin continue keeping with his reincarnation in the body of a little boy. The personal details of their relationship are what makes the character of this movie appealing and alive. Non-attachment central to Buddhist tradition is based on the belief that our attachment to things and people in this life is caused by ignorance that our life is suffering and aimed at keeping us in the samsara. But from Tenzin's confession that he couldn't resist from crying upon the departure of his Master, we realize that even skillful believers cannot overcome their human nature. Although his sorrow did touch my heart, it is his story about plucking the flower in his Master's ear during his meditation, and Lama's consequent return of this flower to Tenzen during his sleep is what melted my heart. We later see that friendship, spiritual love and loyalty that Tenzen acquired for his master being his attendant is being transferred to the little boy that turns out to be his master's reincarnation. The way Tenzen always carries the boy in his hands or on his shoulders, the way he looks at him, plays and talks to him cannot leave you indifferent to the life they're about to have. Many celebrations and ceremonies shown throughout the movie uncovers a lot of details about the Buddhist traditions. Movie starts with the funeral ceremony of Geshe Lama Konchong, where we see the procession of Buddhist monks accompanied by the music and mantras. Then we see the body of Lama wrapped in many clothes as it was described in Death of the Buddha Sutra, and the consequent fire and smoke that was taking it. What really got imprinted in my memory is the image of one of the monks who was looking at the fire as if he was burning in it himself, and also the rainbow that showed up on the sky after the ceremony, which is very symbolic to the reincarnation process that was about to begin. At the celebration of the Tibetian New Year and seeing some Buddhists wearing yellow hats, we understand that this is the Gelug- This Tibetan Buddhist school was founded by Tsongkhapa, also known as Yellow Hats School. This knowledge would be also useful for us to understand Tenzen's close appreciation of nature, as Gelug follows the Mahayana tradition. Then we are to observe one of the most central to this movie ceremony that intends to check the authenticity of Lama's reincarnation. Obviously, as a very sceptic viewer the little boy's choice of Lama's things was hard to believe for me, especially, because his father/brother had to take and guide his arm during the procedure. But later, when the boy shows at Lama's and his picture and then points at himself and says that these 2 people are him, then I started to believe. Although one might raise concerns about this boy's absence of choice over his life and his family's loss of their child, I don't agree with that, because I think it is an honor for their child to be chosen to become a future Lama. Speaking about the meditative state that you acquire once you start watching the movie, it is the nature and the music in this movie that calms you down and help you "tame the mokey" a.k.a. your consciousness. Buddhist close connection to the nature, and compassion towards all beings, as well as Buddhist emphasis on the cyclic nature of the world is evident in monk's discussion of blue, white, flowers that will cover the field in the summer, but which hadn't flourished yet because it's not the time yet. Then he moves to describing plants move caused by the wind as the dance moves: "Everybody would dance. Every nature tree would dance". And then when the bamboo tree is moved by the wind flow, he gets very excited and happy saying that "Here, here! It's dancing!". Then he shows the flower that was attached to his ear praising its beauty, happiness, and freedom which aligns with Mahayana Buddhist tradition of praising all beings as sentient due to them being comprised of Buddha nature. But he is fast to apologize and explains that in order to pick up the flower, he asked permission from the tree. And the music that accompanies all of these beautiful and using Tenzen's terms "free and happy" natural sights just makes the watching even more peaceful and pleasant. Overall I would definitely recommend watching this movie even if you have very limited knowledge of Buddhist traditions as this movie does a magnificent job of bringing the central to Buddhism vibes of peace and balance. But I need to caution that it requires a little bit of effort to follow the movie as unlike the modern movies it doesn't hurry in uncovering the plot.

Unmistaken Child documents another world. It is a world where events that seem to be the products of belief are actually experienced. A deceased saint chooses to be reincarnated; his devoted assistant is asked to locate a child whose body is now inhabited by the saint. Worlds of knowledge that most of us call superstition are brought into play. What is most astounding is that everyone involved in this challenge agrees that the mission and the saint himself, in whatever form he appears, are sacred, and that finding and bringing him to recognition is, as the young assistant says, "a thousand times more important" than anything else.

Nati Baratz, the Israeli filmmaker responsible for this amazing movie, started out to make a film about a group of Tibetan Jews. That he was drawn into filming the search for the reincarnated saint and willing to devote over five years of work to that effort is testimony to the power of attraction presented by the monks whose search is documented. That some of the highest spiritual leaders alive today, including the Dalai Lama, allowed Mr. Baratz and his crew to film their intimate meetings and sacred rituals testifies additionally to the deep trust these leaders invested in the filmmaker.

We the audience can only watch, perhaps in disbelief, perhaps in reverence of the devotion to task - both the task of locating the reincarnated saint and the task of filming the arduous search. Nothing is asked of us as we watch events unfold. Detail by detail, everything is revealed in its own time. Baratz patiently shows us another way of being, one that challenges and at the same time embraces our Western logic driven frame of reference.

Is this film evidence that those who hold the great spiritual knowledge of the East are willing at last to share their knowledge with us? Or are we simply being shown the chasm that divides us from that knowledge? Has the time come for humanity to awaken from its eternity of sleep? Or are we simply being shown another cultural reality? These are some of the questions viewers might ponder after seeing Unmistaken Child.