Review #9 – The Cup

Somehow I managed not to see this film until now; I've owned a copy for a while [procurred from the same cheap bin as The Spanish Prisoner!... see below], but have left it on my shelf. The Cup [Phorpa], as you might already know, is the first film from Bhutan... although it is set in India, with predominantly Tibetan characters, and with funding from Australia.

I showed the second film made in Bhutan at Cinema CNC about 4 years ago: Travellers and Magicians... it was very popular with our audience, for many of the same reasons that The Cup works... it doesn't try too hard, it shows a good story, and it involves the audience. The Cup's [and Travellers and Magicians', for that matter!] director, Khyentse Norbu, is a Buddhist monk, so has an insider's vision... he also has some screen cred, having worked as a consultant on Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha. He filmed in 16mm and then blew it up to 35mm, because of budgetary constraints. Many of the players are real-life monks or trainee monks, giving the film a priceless realistic look that one defies any Hollywood budget to replicate. The film stock, the players, and the gorgeously beautiful setting lend a sense of documentary to The Cup, and this is precisely the element that makes this, and films like it, particularly appealing. We watch films from distant places precisely because we want to be taken there, at least vicariously, for an hour-and-a-half.

The Cup reveals both the sacred and the quotidian of these men's lives, all overshadowed by the context of the Tibetans' exile in India. This monumental issue is not ignored; it is merely treated as just another part of the reality of the monks' existence. Two young men are expected at the monastery, having been smuggled out of Tibet, through Nepal to India; the Abbot worries that they will not make it. Meanwhile, two of the current crop of apprentices are revealed to be soccer-mad [the Cup of The Cup is the World Cup, particularly the 1998 version]. Much effort is expended to see the various games. One character, Orgyen [Jamyang Lodro] is obsessed; he wears a homemade Ronaldo [the Brazillian great] jersey under his monk's robes. It becomes necessary, to Orgyen and others, that they get the services of a satelite dish and television for the final, between Brazil and France. Orgyen is cheering for France [a surprise, considering his outfit], because "France has supported the cause of Tibet." Getting a dish is doubly-complicated, because they need money and they need permission, neither of which seems to be forthcoming.

This quest pushes the narrative forward, but much of the movie deals with the day-to-day lives of the characters: we see them at prayers, at meals, at work, at play. While one might have unrealistically romantic notions of the divinity of these individuals from a distance, they are delightfully human up close, falling asleep while chanting, passing notes back and forth, playing tricks, and really, really liking soccer. The integration of the new boys with the old tells a lot about this community; there are tests and pitfalls, but there is a refreshing lack of testosterone-laden challenges here. It is altogether pleasant to watch 93 minutes of almost exclusively male action that doesn't include punching anyone in the face. The younger monks biggest fear is the Abbot's enforcer, Geko, [Orgyen Tobgyal], who turns out to be a bit of a marshmallow underneath his stern countenance.

While this movie is a little slow [the director said at Sundance that it was okay if people fell asleep], The Cup is a compelling narrative slice-of-life, a life that is completely unfamiliar, but worthy of examination.