Review of Milarepa (1974) by Jenny G — 22 Dec 2010
When we saw this, I had not heard of Milarepa or read any of his teachings, so it's hard to say if I'm missing the point here, or if the film isn't delivering something. It's a fun movie.
It came across like a Tibetan version of Harry Potter - boy with really mean Uncle goes to secret magic school and becomes a sorcerer. Although I suppose Harry Potter didn't wipe out a whole village in an act of revenge (at least I'm assuming he didn't - I've only seen two of those movies and one was on a plane so it was hard to focus on it.
). At this point the Milarepa movie takes a somber tone and we learn that revenge is empty and hollow, a lesson I've been told before, but frankly I'm too Western, psychotic, and angry at the patriarchy to get much mileage out of any sort of "letting go/love your enemy" type philosophy.
Didn't buy Christian forgiveness, don't buy this. But that's me.The movie ends there, and I guess there's going to be (or maybe there already is) a sequel where we learn how he becomes an enlightened monk.
I guess I'd watch the sequel if it were on, but I think I should probably read his actual writings than rely on sword-and-sorcery type movies to learn more about this subject.
This review of Milarepa (1974) was written by Jenny G on 22 Dec 2010.
Milarepa has generally received mixed reviews.
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