Spirituality

Rating: 9/10 (8 March 2007)

Let me introduce myself. I am one of the relatively few people in the West that is and has been for years, deeply fascinated with true spirituality, meaning the impulse to solve the riddle of Life. All great Masters that have solved that riddle (spanning from Rama, over Krishna, Buddha, Zarathustra, Plato, Christ to modern Masters) agree that the core of the "riddle of Life" or call it Karma, is the fear of Life, and the fear of death that is part of that. THe "ego", being the Seeker all talk about, is the problem of Life, the one to be surmounted, and not the one to be taken for granted. The ego fears death and life and therefore does not reach full potential within. While watching this film I wondered if people who are not immersed in all this can truly understand the depth and true message of the film. To begin with, there are NOT three stories, but only two. The supposed third one, where the main Seeker sits next to the three in a sort of floating world is not a separate "story". That is what Masters call the Higher Self, or the Soul or whatever you call it, the timeless part of all of us sitting next to the tree of Life trying to solve its apparent health problem. THe two concrete stories in historical time are the Lower self, the ego, trying to solve in real time this same riddle of Life, being the same being. Each life on earth he is stuck on the same problem, but in different historical settings and different nuances, but with the same people. That is the Law of Kharma. ONly when he discovers that to Live you must let go and stop fearing and searching does he find the solution and his higher self is freed, and manifests also on earth. At that time it becomes clear that there is no difference between him and the tree of Life and that the reason why the tree was ill was precisely that the character did not understand that he WAS/IS the tree, and that the problem to solve in order to make the tree healthy was/is his fear of the death of himself and of the tree, instead of looking for medicine outside of himself. When he becomes Enlightened and is absorbed in Life itself, only then the tree becomes alive by itself. THis is called Enlightenment, and with Christ for instance this was symbolized by the descent of the white dove on his head, when he reached Christ or enlightened consciousness. IN the end, to melt with Life, the ego disappears completely within the Master, only Life remains, there is no personality in the body anymore, just "God". In the film this is shown by the fact that de main character literally disappears and he becomes part of nature, in the physical sense. Maybe you don't believe in this sort of thing, but in my humble opinion, the director knows a lot about it and wanted to make this film testimony to this spiritual and timeless quest. A true masterpiece spiritually and also polemical. THis does of course not mean that my view of this film is the only one, or even the correct one. Besides that, as other noted, what beautiful camera-work, lighting, concept, acting etc. Truly a magnificent film!