Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom

Pawo Choyning Dorji gives his familiar fish-out-of-water themes a gentle workout in the unusual setting of rural Bhutan. The mountain settlement of Lunana is certainly the last place that Ugyen Dorji (Sherab Dorji) wants to be, in fact the young teacher is rather too cool for school in general, dreaming instead of emigrating to Australia. The remote posting to Lunana is obviously intended as a punishment from the education ministry and a reminder that Ugyen is supposed to be a part of the Gross Happiness Initiative - a genuine policy you can read more about here.

While definitely no party political broadcast, the writer/director certainly is out to softly illustrate the charms of this holistic philosophy as Ugyen is met by villagers Michen (Ugyen Norbu Lhendup) and Singye (Tshering Dorji) for the eight-day trek that will take him away from what he considers to be civilisation from spring until winter. The schlep up the mountain is as unhurried as everything else about Dorji's film, which is happy to gradually expand on its ideas of fitting in and contentment without pushing at them too hard.

A lot is predictable here. The trek is a lot more arduous than Ugyen expects and, of course, his boots leak. Greeted by what appears to be almost the entire village of 56 souls, he also discovers the school room is not in great shape, although a previous incumbent has left a handful of teaching materials. There's no yak yet but those who are worried about truth in advertising as Norbu (a name which means wish-fulfilling jewel) will shortly take up residence as a supplier of fire-lighting dung.

The sort of film that the word "charmer" was made for, the class of bright-eyed moppets prove pretty irresistible for Ugyen - although it is most certainly he who is doing most of the learning. The cast are mostly locals in their first roles but they are also pretty irresistible to the camera. The film is folded into the engaging fabric of the village, as Ugyen has repeated meetings with the wise elder Asha (Kunzang Wangdi) and starts to learn a local melody from local lass Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung). If this was an American film there would be all sorts of comic complications and teaching moments, but Dorji takes a much more subtle approach. He doesn't force the themes or include uneccesary drama letting memorable phrases like, "Teachers can touch the future" gradually gather a resonance that lingers like Saldon's song on the wind.