This observational documentary about Plum Village, a monastery in rural France, looks at the mindfulness espoused by Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. Interspersed with excerpts from Hanh’s journals (throatily voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), it makes the case for “suffering” as “the compost” in which “the food of awakening” grows. If you aren’t into new-ageiness, its meditative pacing, preachy voiceover and closeups of shiny, hard-shelled ladybirds might grate, though its continual call to return to the present moment is hard to ignore.
Fascinating too is the way the film-makers choose to show their cast of born-again American monks briefly reunited with their families on an annual vacation, lingering on their ageing parents’ emotional reactions.
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