If you think constantly jetting around the world and staying in swank hotels from NY to Paris to LA and rubbing elbows with NY society and Hollywood stars is being a real monk, then this movie is for you. If you're smarter than that, then you'll see the fallacy apparent in this shallow film. The Dali Lama is obviously using Nicholas and his position in society for promotions and to raise funds, but this amazing juxtaposition and conflict is ignored. Which is OK. Just don't romanticize it and don't promote the movie as something else. This dude Nicholas ain't someone raised as a monk since a young child that had to flee China lest he be killed. And that's why I give the movie just 4 stars, because it's an opportunity missed to make a real movie about what is really happening here. One of last scenes with Nicholas out with a large format camera sums it all up: there is some poor "real" monk who has probably never seen NYC or Paris or LA carrying all of Nicholas's camera equipment around like a slave. That is the real story, and why I think less of this movie because it didn't explore this thesis. How about interviewing that monk carrying around all that photog equipment, or asking some of the monks that survived the genocide in Tibet & China to comment on what they think of this western-poser and the special treatment he gets. Nicholas still lives a life of a celebrity despite his monk status, and is treated quite different than other monks. I thought it was going to be about a talented Tibetan monk who takes world-class photographs, and heart of story would be his art. The photography is just a sidenote in the movie - a means for fundraising. Very disappointed this movie missed the real story.
Review of Monk with a Camera
