By Yangdon Dhondup – SOAS, UK
Travellers and Magicians, Khyentse Rinpoche’s second feature film after the much praised The Cup, was shown in a packed cinema hall during the 47th London Film Festival. Filmed in Bhutan with a cast entirely of non-professional actors and spoken in Dzongkha dialect, Travellers and Magicians tells the story of Dhondup, a young government officer who dreams of going to America, the land of opportunity, instead of staying in his homeland where “there are no movies, no restaurants and most importantly, no cool girls.” When he finally receives the long awaited letter to go to America, he leaves the village and heads to Thimphu. While waiting for the bus, he meets an apple seller, a monk, a papermaker and his beautiful daughter Sonam. Reluctant to talk to them at first, Dhondup turns his cassette recorder on – the voice of a female rock singer blares from the loudspeaker: “I gotta get out of here!”
Dhondup slowly joins the group and listens to the monk telling the travellers the story of Tashi, a lazy magic student who, like Dhondup, sees no future in his village and dreams of leaving. Tashi’s younger brother gives him a potion and Tashi enters into a dream world of lust and murder.
Dhondup, meanwhile, feels attracted towards Sonam and is suddenly no longer in such a hurry to arrive in Thimphu. The witty monk shows Dhondup through the story that his dreams are similar to that of the young magician.
Unlike The Cup where Khyentse Rinpoche told the story of living in exile couched in the mundane desires of Tibetan monks, Travellers and Magicians is a tale about young educated Bhutanese who see no future in their homeland. Their dream is to go to America and to make money, no matter whether they have to wash dishes or pick apples. Thus, they are ready to leave a respected and secure job for the sake of quick money. For young people like Dhondup, Bhutan seems to offer nothing – they like to listen and dance to Western music and wear jeans instead of the traditional gho that all Bhutanese have to wear by law.
The script is sharp and the cast delivers a fine performance. Khyentse Rinpoche has based this moving yet funny film on Yasunari Kawabata’s story Izuni Odorino, a Buddhist fable, as well as on his own observation of travellers waiting for a ride, and has managed, again, to tell a distinctive tale with a lot of wit and charm.
