Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

Movie: Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

Nominated for: Best International Feature

How I watched: On Demand

When I fell asleep: I did not

When it had me: Opening shot

When it lost me: It didn't

What I have to say:

This movie starts with a grandmother chiding her twenty-something grandson for his laziness and ranting in a sort of "kids these days" vein. The movie supports her hypothesis by having his boss tell him he is the laziest of all teachers and in answer to that she is sending him to the world's most remote school for the final year of his contract. The school is in Lunana in the mountains of Bhutan at 15,000 feet elevation.

I imagined the movie would then devolve into hearty rural people laughing at an idiot city boy until he learns first hand that country folk are better. That might be what the American version would do. This movie shows more restraint than that. There is a learning curve for the kid from a softer, civilized life but he steps up quickly when he sees the need of the village children. 

I felt the movie made a fair case of demonstrating what we have lost as a species as we have wandered farther away from our tribal roots, without falling into the trap of over-romanticizing life in a mountain village with a population of 53. There is so much that they don't have and I didn't get the feeling I was supposed to end the movie feeling that we should all live in remote villages, necessarily. But through the sparsity of their life, we can see more clearly what they do have: connection to each other and the land, deep gratitude, free time and a relationship to their own creativity and talent for the sake of it, rather than as a commodity.

It is fun to see the young man fall into the rhythm of the village so much so that he doesn't want to leave when his term has ended. Whether he chooses a life in the highlands or not, he has been touched by these lessons and they will change his life forever. They are lessons that I think we could all benefit from, even if we do still like our flush toilets. 

The film was shot on location in Lunana with the actual villagers who had never even seen a movie before. They used solar charged batteries to run the camera. It is important that the location is beautiful and breath taking but it is even more crucial that the people in the film are  so honest and real. You feel you are invited in to something sacred and special that was previously only known to a small community. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is something really special and I hope a lot of people get to see it.

Also? This is the most intriguing title of any film this year and the title did not let me down.