I can’t help sharing my struggles to watch this film at Biffes. With an impromptu rescheduling, the long queue extended up to two and a half hours and there were very less strangers at the screening. Not a single seat was left unoccupied and everybody laughed out and thoroughly enjoyed The Monk and the Gun. Appearing a political satire in its exterior, the film shells various layers strategically unraveling before the audience wrapped in natural humor. That’s the signature style of Bhutanese filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji whose first film Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom earned an Oscar nomination in 2021. Never a small thing for a Buddhist writer-director.

It’s 2006. Dorji’s plot mixes Bhutan’s history and a pleasant change it is aspiring to bring with a democratic election for the first time under the directive of the King.. Part of it, a decade-long ban is lifted on the Internet and media. Listening to the election announcement on the radio, a Lama asks his disciple, a dutiful monk Tashi (Tandin Wangchuk) to bring two guns before the full moon to set things right. Without questioning his master, Tashi sets off. What a hilarious journey was that! I was so curious to learn how a monk takes guns in his hand to set things right. The Monk and the Gun preserves this intriguing thread until the last scene.

Dorji presents heavy philosophies poignantly but you never feel the weight as they are wrapped in amusing humour. An engaging narrative without pinpointing its targets but you get it. For instance, Tashi is asking for black water(cola) at a local shop where he is also fascinated by the AK 47 used by Craig in a Bond film running on TV. The American tourist who is after a vintage Civil War rifle and the young Bhutanese guide risk his life for some money are typical political statements at different levels. A bureaucrat (Pema Zangpo Sherpa) appointed to teach Bhutanese people to vote realizes without dividing and creating enmity, different ideologies cannot survive. That’s where Pawo roots his heart for a country that places happiness over money.

Contd:part 2