Unmistaken Child

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.

Complex. moving, thought provoking and beautifully shot, with a great score.

I struggled a bit philosophically at first while watching, since I've been trained in a more western tradition of Buddhism, and don't take the concept of reincarnation literally. And I had an even harder time seeing a tiny child taken from it's family with no say as to his fate.

But then I realized that the documentary – which is told without narration – isn't taking sides on whether reincarnation is real, whether this child actually is the reincarnation of the former llama (there are some moments that seem to actively raise question, where it looks like the boy may being guided to give the right answers). It's simply displaying a way of life and a tradition that has gone on for hundreds of years. One that includes the cruelty of separating a child and his family, but that has also led to such important figures as the current Dali Llama, who has done so much for world peace.

And, in turn that leads to bigger, important questions about how we raise children. If we never forced children directions against their will at times, we might never have some of our greatest figures in religion, leadership, arts, etc. But in doing so, do we also in some way harm the soul of that child? Where is the line between freedom and tradition?

These are important questions, and the film raises them with skill and grace, without attempting to force an easy answer.

It's also the very emotional journey of the young monk charged with the difficult and uncertain task of finding the reincarnation of the man he loved and served for many years. Whether your beliefs, you can't help but care for this charismatic and vulnerable monk on his physically, emotionally and spiritually challenging journey.

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.

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.

A very interesting documentary about the search for the reincarnation of a Buddhist Lama. Everything is shown on camera, including the search for the reincarnated Lama. The search eventually ends when a 2 year old is chosen to be the reincarnated lama. The process is quite interesting and I couldn't help but wonder what the 2 year old was thinking during the whole thing. Was it all just a game to him to identify his previous belongings? The parents of the little Lama are also torn between giving up their son and honouring their faith. I guess it's not a challenging prediction to guess which one they choose. The pain in their faces is obvious when they have to give up their son to a bunch of men in robes.

The little boy is interesting and intelligent but you have to wonder about his future and whether he really had any choice in the matter. There's no narration in the movie and both sides are shown pretty fairly. Occasionally the little boy does say things that makes him look like a Lama but then there are times which make him look like a little boy. Even when he's acting like a Lama I have a hard time not believing he's just playing pretend. He's 2 and doesn't really know the motivations of the adult world.

Take a kid at 2 and it's very easy to brainwash him and turn him into whatever you want. This is one of the nastier parts of what is otherwise seen to be as a very benign religion.