SYNOPSICS
My Reincarnation (2011) is a English,Spanish,Italian,Tibetan movie. Jennifer Fox has directed this movie. Yeshi Silvano Namkhai,Chögyal Namkhai Norbu are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2011. My Reincarnation (2011) is considered one of the best Documentary,Adventure,Biography,Family movie in India and around the world.
For twenty years, filmmaker Jennifer Fox has been following the high Tibetan master, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and his Italian born son, Yeshi, with her camera. The result is the astounding feature length documentary, MY REINCARNATION, which tells the rare inside story of one of the last reincarnate teachers to be trained in Tibet and his son's stubborn reluctance to follow in his father's footsteps. Rinpoche escaped Tibet in 1959 and settled in Italy, where he married and had two children, of which Yeshi was the first. As a boy, Yeshi was recognized as the reincarnation of a famous spiritual master, who died after the Chinese invaded Tibet. But Yeshi grew up in Italy and never wanted to have anything to do with this legacy...
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My Reincarnation (2011) Reviews
A Unique Film
My Reincarnation is the result of 20 years of gathering footage of Namkhai Norbu's sometimes-rocky relationship with his Western born son, Yeshe. The film beautifully captures Yeshe's gradual acceptance of his fate, as the reincarnation of Norbu's uncle. I am a fan of this film because it deals with a spiritual topic without being preachy, it touches on a (universal) theme of parent-child struggle -- the rebellious teenage son going against his father's wishes.. except in this case the father happens to be a world-renowned Tibetan Buddhist Master! MR provides extraordinary access into this world. Certainly worth checking out!
A wonderful movie that will open your mind and open your heart
So much media, so little time. I will submit to you that this end of a horrible year is possibly one of the best movie runs in a long long time. And to kick things off, you could do yourself a favor by watching this remarkable documentary about the complex relationship between exiled Tibetan spiritual master Cheogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche and his Italian-born son. The incredible things about documentaries is that they get made at all. And when a film opens you up to a whole world, thousands of years of tradition and practices, and a remarkable family struggle, all at the same time, then watch and pray this happens more often. So in a real sense, this film is beyond criticism, ratings and all the rest. The fact that it exists, and that you, living your hum drum life might get to see it, and that it shows a real life drama so much more moving and important that any other film or TV show or Internet blabber that you might waste your time with is enough said. Watch this, open your mind, and experience what can only be said to be a tale for our time. For the fact that the cruelty and hatred that spawned all of it is still there, and that maybe, just maybe, by watching this we might be inspired to do some small thing to assist those who suffer,is all that really matters. Enough said.
Entertaining and profound
This is a beautiful and amazing film that plays well to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike because of its depth and humanity. Sagely editing and incorporating footage from over twenty years in the lives of Tibetan Buddhist master Chogyal Namkhai Norbu and his son Yeshi, Jennifer Fox reveals the complexity of the relationships in a cross-cultural family with a world-famous rinpoche as the patriarch, a strong and supportive southern Italian woman as the matriarch, and a son who, as a youth, feels distant from his father and his teachings. However, after having a family and working for IBM for many years, the son starts to realize that there is something to his father's teachings after all. I cannot think of another film that so subtly and exquisitely shows the reality of the Tibetan Buddhist community in exile, the ways it holds to some traditions while adapting to others. In the end, Jennifer Fox, Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, and Yeshi Namkhai have offered up something that is entertaining and profound, a 100 minute dharma lesson full of light, illusion, family, and realization.
A Meaningful Return
This film is a warm and compassionate exploration of the many facets of life for the renowned Tibetan Dzogchen teacher Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, as well as Yeshi, who not only has the burden of being the son of such a world-famous master, but the additional one of his own reincarnated legacy to navigate and embrace. Most gratifying and quietly amazing is the graciousness of both father and son for allowing such close cinematic observation for so long. Twenty years of access to this family also allows for a view of impermanence, which subtly colors the events in the lives and attitudes of the principals. What a privilege, for filmmaker Jennifer Fox and for us, to be allowed to spend such a generous amount of time with them, and to get a sense of the fresh challenges which are imposed upon life when it is radically encompassed by Tibetan Buddhist worldviews. For an average person, encountering the possibility that your uncle has been reborn as your son, may well transform your conventional ideas about the meaning of family life into something new and unfamiliar... perhaps even liberating. Some opportunities for glimpses into the nature of Tibetan Dzogchen could have served as a nice taste for cultivating an interest among some potential practitioners, but there is rather very little of it here to give a deep sense of what distinguishes its atiyoga qualities from, for example, Zen or even other aspects of Tibetan Buddhist practices. Indeed, it doesn't actually qualify (as Norbu himself has repeatedly said) as really being in itself a tradition per se, although the body of its instructional and inspirational texts do usually find a major repository within the Nyingma school. But that said, this is essentially a family drama first, with some dharma teachings appearing to provide commentary. I found it interesting that, while Fox puts Yeshi up front as the more immediately sympathetic protagonist in the pair, the father has an outsized presence that necessarily requires some distancing, which results in a more ambiguous view of his character yet one which effectively helps preempt a superficial judgment of him on our part. In other words, our sympathies do not favor the son at the expense of the father, who is really a warm teacher with a great ability to transmit profound things. Also interestingly, the film's presentation doesn't seem to have prevented some confusion among Buddhist practitioners of other traditions who have seen it, and who have not found their own Buddhist practice, beliefs or general demeanor reflected in it. In any case, for anyone interested in acquainting themselves with Dzogchen as taught by Norbu (and he quite a wonderful teacher), I would recommend starting with Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State, which is not too advanced and gives a short helpful overview, with many clear points about the practice and its distinctions.
Belief and scepticism combine productively
A challenge facing any reviewer is how to present a balanced picture without letting one's own feelings sway it too much either way. The same challenge must face documentary makers. How do you present 'facts' without putting a spin on them? The first film I saw by Jenny Fox was her Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman: a six-hour marathon of her own journey to discover what it means to be a woman. My Reincarnation is mercifully brief by comparison. She returns to more traditional cinema verité, again dissecting the psyche – this time of a high Tibetan Buddhist Monk. Both his greatness and his more earthly failings – all are part of this vivid 82 minute documentary. In making it, Fox gained unparalleled access to his private and family affairs. She had little funding for the first 18 years, of what turned out to be 20 years of filming, but in spite of the title, it was all completed in a single lifetime. The monk in question is Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. While less famous than the Dalai Lama, a quick google search shows he's right up there with revered world-famous authorities. A reason My Reincarnation took so long to complete, Fox tells me, is that there was no 'storyline' on which to hang a commercial film. Chogyal teaches in exile, and his son (Yeshi), although also recognised as a great incarnation, prefers family life in Italy to the ascetic Buddhist path. So not a lot happens. But then, a breakthrough. The documentary had almost been abandoned when our prodigal son secretly hoofs it to Tibet to reclaim his heritage. Dad, meanwhile, is looking unwell, and a Buddhist foundation wants to preserve the teachings. So they gave Fox enough funds to get things to the big screen. Our film's unhurried pace could easily make it rather unexceptional, especially to non-Buddhists: except for three things. Firstly, access to such a reclusive life is normally impossible. Secondly, the extraordinary tension between intelligent young Yeshi, who wants wants to see father as nothing special, and Dad with his hoards of adoring acolytes. By giving both characters equal weight, Fox explores Tibetan Buddhist tradition from the angles of both believers and sceptics. The third factor is Fox herself as a filmmaker. She has an unnerving ability to turn navel-gazing into life-changing. Her daunting self-exposé, Flying Confessions, was even serialised on television. Now, her mantra-laden, bell-ringing, Himalayan odyssey is disarmingly down-to-earth. While there is, for Buddhist audiences at least, enough 'meat on the bone' as Fox puts it (a curious expression – as most Buddhists are vegetarians, Tibetans often being an exception), she maintains a director's crucial impartiality in the final edit. Yeshi's irritation is displayed without totally wrecking the character of the old master. But we also get to see the latter as merely human. Brief monologues are impressive. Basic Buddhist teachings include observing one's own mind and avoiding worship of a master (a point repeatedly overlooked, it seems to me, from the doting expressions of followers). The Dalai Lama makes several very informal appearances, laughing and joking charismatically. But the real emotional clout is launched in the final Tibetan footage. Is there anything in the prophecies? These last reels were shot without Fox's knowledge – she didn't even know Yeshi was going. Miraculous intervention or an overpowering sense of duty? The whole thing can still look a bit woolly to this viewer, but it works dramatically and impressively for the community of Dzogchen Buddhists. Chögyal Namkhai Norbu might not be a divinity from on high, but he gives sound advice to people desperately in need. His practices have given him fortitude and focus. Not a bad role model – even as a mere father. For sceptics, Tibetan Buddhism's shortcomings when running a modern-day sanctuary are highlighted. Early in the film, Yeshi introduces modern business strategy to enable many more people than would have been envisaged in the original Buddhism to get on well with each other. In this sense, the West brings something to the East. "This," as Fox proclaims, "is the future. If they can get through it." Whatever your beliefs, shake yourself at the end of the movie and remember: this is real life documentary, not fiction. The chrysalis of documentary movie-making transforms itself into moving evidence.