Unmistaken Child
by Nati Baratz
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DVD details
Actor: Lama Konchog, The Dalai LamaDirector: Nati Baratz
Brand: Oscilloscope Laboratories
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); English (Dubbed)
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Surround Sound, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-11-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratory
Product features:
- UNMISTAKEN CHILD (DVD MOVIE)
DVD Reviews of Unmistaken Child
DVD Review: Unmistaken? I'm Not So Sure....
Summary: 4 Stars
I liked this movie a lot; it is sweet and touching on the surface yet also disturbing and controversial beneath. I have a strong background in Tibetan Buddhism, yet it isn't so clear to me how unmistaken this movie's outcome is. Today I read an unrelated comment for a book on Amazon which questioned the truth of tulkus (the Tibetan tradition of identifying incarnate teachers), and it got me thinking - what do I think? what do I know? how can it really happen? how can we be sure? This questioning of such an entrenched tradition may seem strange, but after all, Buddhism, the tradition of awaking, is based on questioning reality and doesn't require any beliefs really.
This story begins with the quest for a Lama's reincarnation. This daunting task becomes an unexpected and unwelcome responsibility for the Lama's main disciple! What follows is an unlikely fulfillment of that task. The divination, searching and verification process did not instill a lot of confidence in the tradition for me. What touched me most where the moments of apparent bonding and sweet comfort the two (seeking disciple and infant master) shared. The process of the completely unscientific discovery left me thinking there must be some profoundly intuitive and karmicly destined forces at work that I just don't see or understand (which are fairly easy to accept on blind faith, but hard to really explain or justify). There may be something special about the faith of the quest and the discovered child, BUT it requires a lot of faith to accept. Through all this the filming is intimate and mostly unobtrusive, enough that its easy to forget its being filmed by a group of outsiders.
In the late '80's I had the privilege to be in Bodhgaya India when the enthronement of a celebrated baby tulku took place. What I witnessed was profound (clearly no ordinary 22 month old child!). Afterwards, the Lama I was traveling with (himself a Tibetan born Tulku), voiced the opinion that the whole tradition (institutionalizing young children after locating and taking them away from their homes) was not right. The implication was that taking one's childhood away is not a good thing (even though in that case the tulku was an orphan). It was revealing to witness a glimpse of one's teacher questioning their religion, culture and past, but also to see there are many sides to any story.
So, lets accept (on faith) that the unmistaken child really IS the incarnate Lama - however that can actually happen - what about the rightness of taking him from his parents, family and home? What about the issue of not honoring the young Master's wishes to be born and raised in such a place? What about the alternative (never considered) of listening to and honoring his desire to never leave that place? This brings up the concerns of my friend/teacher in India long ago - what about the impact on the child? To what extent and to what goals are the children being used? For the peasant parents it's a bit like winning the social lottery, yet they also lose their child. This is clearly difficult for the parents and the child (in this case the mother seemed willing to let him go, while the father was much more closely bonded and reluctant to see him go). It's a different culture, but how would you handle it?
These are not purely academic questions, as it is a living tradition that has now expanded beyond traditionally bound Asia. In Tibet the institution of recognizing tulkus was clearly political. It was as much a part of the feudal power structure as of any spiritual structure. Many realized Lamas have expressed a desire to somehow avoid this whole scene by remaining unrecognized in their next lives (see Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche). As well, there's the ironic fact that Lama Zopa's, one of the main Rinpoches in this documentary responsible for authenticating this "unmistaken child", main teacher himself apparently took rebirth as a Spanish boy in the mid 80's and appears to have put his Tibetan and Buddhist past comfortably behind him. Nor is it a foolproof system as the current controversy with the 17th Karmapa shows Buddha's Not Smiling: Uncovering Corruption at the Heart of Tibetan Buddhism Today (highly recommended to burst delusional idealistic bubbles). It is also a biased system - as seen by the dearth of females recognized as tulkus, the oversized opportunity, power, prestige AND responsibility that usually comes with recognition, and the potential for corruption.
This review may seem to stray from the movie itself (a sweet and simple if unlikely tale of discovering one's beloved teacher in the remote mountain valley where you had met and been raised by him...), but what also makes this documentary moving and significant is how it fits into a larger picture (global, cultural and individual social and spiritual evolutions), and how it effects us. This is the part I'm uncertain about, and intrigued by...
Description of Unmistaken Child
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