Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom Review: Oscar Shortlisted Film Puts Bhutanese Culture Front And Center

Ugyen (Sherab Dorji) is a government-contracted teacher who doesn’t want to teach in Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Oscar-shortlisted debut film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom. It was submitted for consideration for last year’s Academy Award for International Feature, but was not accepted because the South Asian nation hadn’t submitted a film since its lone entry in 1999. Beating the odds, Dorji’s film made the International Feature shortlist — making Bhutan one of three countries to make the cut for the first time, along with Kosovo and Panama.

In the film, Ugyen dreams of traveling to Australia to become a singer, but he has another year on his contract before he can quit. He resides in large city in Bhutan, but when his supervisor notices he’s slacking at work, he’s transferred to a remote village called Lunana.

When Ugyen gets off the bus, he meets Michen (Ugyen Norbu Lhendup), his guide to Lunana. With some donkeys and a six-day walk ahead of them, they have to navigate through the mountains to get to the village. Ugyen texts on his cell phone on the trek, listens to his iPod and hates every minute of it. As the days pass and the walk continues, everything that connects him to the city loses power, and he no longer can ignore his environment. After making it to the village, Ugyen is welcomed with open arms, but he immediately starts complaining about the living conditions. The school is an old wooden hut with no supplies, and his room doesn’t have windows, so he has to endure the freezing air.

But the children are eager to learn.

On the first day of work, class captain Pen Zam (playing herself) wakes Ugyen bright and early to make sure he’s in class. Since supplies are non-existent, the teacher has to get creative. As a person despondent about teaching, the man is fantastic at it. He turns on the charisma like a light switch that immediately engages the students. Soon Ugyen meets the town’s best singer Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung), who shares Ugyen’s passion for music. He begins to enjoy his time with the people of Lunana by building a cultural bridge of sorts. He exposes them to elements of city life and vice versa. However, he realizes that the experience of living there is more invaluable than anything he could teach them. The people of Lunana don’t have much, but they are happy and do their best with what they have.

In Lunana, there is a lesson about personhood and tradition. The main question is, how does one embrace their culture and keep the motivation to invest in it? The answer is by sharing said culture. Ugyen does this as he takes what he’s learned from living and teaching in a remote village — specifically a song he learned from Saldon — and sings it for a bar full of white Australians, thus bridging a gap between cultures.

The film does well in showing the stark contrast between growing up among urban landscapes versus living several thousand feet above sea level in the mountains. Dorji and cinematographer Jigme Tenzing don’t deploy elaborate shooting techniques, but its simplicity makes the film charming and earthy. The director captures the mystical landscape that even the film admits is global warming.

Ugyen’s emotional journey is well designed and executed through his arc. The audience can see every time the character experiences a change in personality or feeling. The story is brought to the foreground by star Dorji and a cast of first-time actors from Lunana. Pen Zam and the children of the village light up the screen as their lust for life and learning is fun and infectious.

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is slice-of-life film filled with heart and soul that is shot with sincerity and the message that we should all learn to accept that our differences make us who we are.

Must Read Stories

Michael Mann-Meg Gardiner Book ‘Heat 2’ Follows Characters Before & After Movie; Pub Date Set

Anthony Mackie Sets Directing Debut On ‘Spark’ With Saniyya Sidney As Claudette Colvin

Los Angeles On-Location Filming Sets Quarterly Record, Doubling Since 2020

What’s In Store For Endeavor Content 2.0? Q&A With Co-CEOs On CJ-Backed Future

Read More About:

Source: Read Full Article