Samsara

Colour, 35mm
Germany, India, 2001, 138 min
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

Tashi is a young Buddhist monk who has been meditating in solitude for three years. With a beard and long nails, he is brought back to the monastery where he continues his prayers. But while blessing the harvest, he encounters the peasant girl Pema and becomes aware of his sexual feelings. Tashi decides to leave the monastery, marry Pema and live in the village. After all, the Buddha also spent 29 years amidst life’s temptations before he turned his back on them. But life outside the monastery walls is much more complicated than Tashi had anticipated: It is a life of passion, fatherhood, jealousy, infidelity, treachery, revenge, helplessness and misery. He has to ask himself the eternal question, whether it is more important to devote one’s life to prayer, meditation and spirituality, or to experience real, harsh living, full of complex emotions, where it is often difficult to distinguish good and bad, right and wrong.

About the director

Pan Nalin was born in the remote village of Adatala in India. He is a self-taught filmmaker. After making several short films and documentaries, he decided in 1993 to make his first feature Samsara, which took almost nine years to complete.