The Monk and the Gun

Friday March 14 @ 1:30 pm

Comedy / Drama
1 hr 47 min – Not Rated – Released 2023

Following up his Oscar-nominated debut film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, Bhutanese filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji’s The Monk and the Gun is a political satire set in the year 2006 as the Kingdom of Bhutan transitions towards becoming the world’s youngest democracy. Lusciously lensed by cinematographer Jigme Tenzing, the ensemble comedy examines how the country’s upcoming mock elections affect the titular monk, a rural family, an election official, and a desperate liaison from the city, all of whose lives collide in minor and major ways. Known throughout the world for its extraordinary beauty and its emphasis on Gross National Happiness, the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan was the last nation to connect to the internet and television. And if that weren’t enough change, the King announced shortly afterwards that he would cede his power to the people via their vote and a new form of government: Democracy.

Fictional parties are set up: Blue representing freedom and equality, red representing industrial development, and yellow representing preservation. Although the villagers are told to vote for the party they think will “bring them the most happiness,”— democracy, Tshering insists is paramount for the country’s Gross National Happiness—they are also instructed how to hold a rally. Villagers are arbitrarily split up and told to yell at each other. A lesson that presses an elderly villager to ask Tshering why they are being taught to be rude, “This isn’t who we are,” the old woman admonishes. Indeed, much of the film criticizes the ways in which political parties can polarize families.

After hearing about the upcoming mock elections on the radio, the elderly lama (Kelsang Choejey) of the rural village of Ura requests that his attendant Tashi (a wonderfully wry Tandin Wangchuck) bring him two guns before the full moon—also the day of the elections—to “set it right.” What exactly he means by this ominous and vague statement is left unanswered until the film’s charming denouement. Characters come in and out of each other’s lives seamlessly, sometimes without even realizing it. Like “Nashville,” not all the characters are given equal screen time, yet each is imperative for the tapestry of life Dorji wishes to present. The Bhutanese countryside itself is also a character, with many scenes filmed in wide shots, centering Tashi and others within a bucolic tableau of flowers and animals held harmoniously all together in Dorji’s frame.

The film is a masterful presentation of purity, morality and principles. So poignant and profound, not only in exposing the effects of modern democracy on ancient traditions, but also on how misunderstanding and abusing it can bring about conflict and division instead of peace and prosperity. The icing on the cake comes at the end when the phallic symbol of death is exchanged, hilariously and graciously, with the phallic symbol of life. The Monk and the Gun is a true crowd-pleaser, a poignant message wrapped up in a humorous and vibrant tale.