Wheel of Time (2003)

Calificación de los usuarios:

7.2/10   

Director:

Werner Herzog

Guionista:

Werner Herzog (writer)

Fecha de Lanzamiento:

30 octubre 2003 (Alemania)

Género:

Documental

Plot:

Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India. |

Plot Keywords:

Buddhist

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Herzog showing a culture, in mass, in inner-peace, led by the guy to know most

Reparto

Dalai Lama	...	Himself
Lama Lhundup Woeser	...	Himself
Takna Jigme Sangpo	...	Himself
Matthieu Ricard	...	Himself
listado alfabético del resto del reparto:
Madhurita Negi Anand	...	Himself
Tenzin Dhargye	...	Himself
Ven. Geshe	...	Himself
Werner Herzog	...	Himself (voice)
Manfred Klell	...	Himself
Chungdak D. Koren	...	Himself
Thupten Tsering Mukhimsar	...	Himself

También conocida como:

Kalachakra (Alemania) (working title)
Rad der Zeit (Alemania)

Duración:

81 min | USA:80 min

País:

Alemania

Idioma:

Alemán | Inglés | Tibetan

Color:

Color

Relación de Aspecto:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby SR

Clasificación:

Germany:o.Al. | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud)

Locaciones de Filmación:

Bodgaya, Bihar, India

Compañía:

West Park Pictures Produktion

Herzog showing a culture, in mass, in inner-peace, led by the guy to know most

Wheel of Time is a curious documentary crucially because of someone from the West, like myself, being privy to traditional customs and ceremonial practices that seem like they could be coming from another world. But, as one soon learns, this curiosity is strong because it IS apart of this world, and maybe the truest moment of clarity from the Dalai Lama himself comes when he states how the universe is really not owned by one country or apart of one mountain or other, but is in how an individual conceives it- the universe, the center of it, is in you, or at least your projection of what it is, which is not something collective but ultimately is. It's a very wise statement that will keep me pondering it over for a long time. Likewise, the Kalachakra mandala becomes like a metaphor for this ideal, of hundreds of thousands of people coming together for the purpose of- aside from getting priceless words from the Dalai Lama- being at inner peace with oneself, hence the universe.

By the end of Wheel of Time I didn't know much more about Buddhism than I had going into it, which isn't any real fault on Herzog's end as a filmmaker; it doesn't illuminate and challenge the mind too much like other documentaries of the filmmaker, but it's also nevertheless unique in Herzog's cannon for what he does and doesn't take on with his subject(s). On the one hand, he's endlessly fascinated with ritual, with physical movements, of the masses of people who have gone on this pilgrimage from thousands of miles from all over the continent for this once-in-two-years event (this adds a dosage of climactic irony for what happens there- an 'illness'). It's anthropological to an extent, only it's not one of everyday culture so much as the unheeding devotion to a religion based around enlightenment, not suffering via a messiah or other. On the other hand, Herzog relies this time on just being a guy with a camera, moving around these swarms of people, and this time Herzog relents for the most part to "directing landscapes" as he usually does to just catching people's faces, their body language, and the instruments at their disposal (which are, usually, their own bodies, as in their bowing-type moves to attain a level, and crawling on ones hands and face across land for a purpose). It's actually, for Herzog, kind of conventional, bordering on being something one might expect for television.

But this little note shouldn't discourage one from seeing the film, and whether you're a Buddhist or not it holds its own aura that provides moments almost akin to what the Dalai Lama wants for his pupils and followers. One's even reminded of Woodstock in comparison of a documentary that goes out of its way to show more-so the nature of the people who gather together, and the power of a gathering, than the actual acts themselves. On top of this, Herzog does the occasional focus on an individual (albeit a little sidetracked as it is during the climax) with a political prisoner released from China and allowed to finally "see" the Dalai Lama in person. And for Herzog fans who are always on the prowl for his 'adequate images', there's still a good few to go around here, like when he captures the mountains that the Tibetans go to in masses, or the final images, including one that is as haunting as anything Herzog's shot. It's a peaceful, brisk journey; not a great work, but not an insignificant one either.