My Reincarnation (PBS-TV & DVD REVIEW)
My
Reincarnation
PBS-TV
& DVD Review by Kam Williams
Father-Son Biopic Set to Air on PBS and to Debut on DVD
When
the Chinese occupied Tibet
in 1959, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche had the good sense to get the heck out of the
country while the going was good. The exiled monk moved to Italy where he married a local gal
and had a couple of kids, including a son, Yeshi, who was recognized from birth
as the reincarnation of a renowned Buddhist master.
And
while Rinpoche was building a formidable following as a spiritual leader in the
West, he simultaneously tried to groom the boy to follow in his footsteps.
However, Yeshi saw himself as more Italian than Tibetan. For, during his
formative years, the kid felt little connection to either the faraway homeland
he’d never known or to the late guru whose spirit had supposedly taken over his
body.
That
didn’t stop Rinpoche from pressuring young Yeshi to embrace his destiny and
thereby keep the family legacy alive. The often animated give-and-take between
the two is the primary focus of My Reincarnation, a riveting biopic directed by Jennifer Fox. The award-winning filmmaker has a penchant for
addressing her subject-matter in unusual depth, as was the case with her
previous offering, Flying, an autobiographical documentary six hours in length.
What
makes this picture fascinating is the fact that she shot it over the course of
20 years, which enables the audience to witness a tremendous degree of personal
development on the part of the protagonists, especially Yeshi who we see go
from being a rebellious teen to an aspiring musician/photographer to a settled,
suburban family man in front of our very eyes. Watching that evolution, who
would ever guess that he might eventually come around to giving his dad’s
desire serious consideration?
An
intriguing, “Marjoe”-esque adventure, if you remember that Oscar-winning
expose’ revolving around a penitent, Pentecostal child preacher who eventually
‘fessed up to being a charlatan. This variation on the theme is designed to
generate similar debate about Eastern philosophy by highlighting how a confining
corporate position at IBM might have belatedly led a reluctant,
designated-demigod down a path of enlightenment lined by throngs of gullible
devotees-in-waiting.
Excellent
(4 stars)
Unrated
In English, Italian, Tibetan and Spanish with
subtitles.
Running time: 82
minutes
DVD Distributor:
Docurama Films
DVD Extras: Deleted
scenes and highlights from the New
York City premiere.
To see a trailer for My Reincarnation, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLdr6BWd688
My Reincarnation also kicks off
the 25th season of PBS’ award-winning series POV on Thursday, June
21st at 10pm /9C.
To check local listings and to see
the complete POV schedule of upcoming episodes, visit: http://www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule/
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