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5 Aug 2006 | See: The Listener (New Zealand) and Buddhapia (Korea).
The Listener, Auckland, July 2006:
Of the documentaries that celebrate singular characters, ANGRY MONK and SQUEEGEE BANDIT couldn’t be more different in treatment and context, yet both touch on colonisation and feature men who don’t quite fit. Gendun Choephel – writer, artist and lapsed monk who “smoked, drank and screwed women” – was born in 1903 and died as the Chinese invaded Tibet. His is a story of rebellion not so much against the Chinese as against the rigidities of Tibetan culture and tradition; he believed they would weaken the country into becoming an easy target. Through paintings, writings and archival footage Swiss director Luc Schaedler fluidly retraces Choephel’s travels through Tibet and India in a way that not only reveals Tibet’s history but also shows the changes wrought by it. The fact that the monk’s once-banned works are being revived seems to suggest another change might be on the way.
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