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Travellers and Magicians Movie Review

Travellers and Magicians is a 2003 Bhutanese film directed by Khyentse Norbu. It’s a very strange movie that for the most part still works.

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“The minds of human beings are so convoluted.

What we hoped for yesterday, we dread today“

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Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey, the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy and murder, that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup, and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam.

This is one Asian movie that is entirely different in its setting and approach at storytelling. Being one of the first fully Bhutanese movies, it offers us a wonderful glimpse into this very interesting country and their culture. The film is so intriguing, in fact, that it made me want to see more movies from Bhutan as they have a lot of potential in cinema.

The main theme of the movie is fantastic. Is the grass greener on the other side? This is something that most people from smaller countries wrestle with on a regular basis, and this film beautifully explores it with an open mind and no sides ever being taken, which was essential in this case. The ambiguous ending only further solidifies the difficulty of this decision.

My only issue with the film is of course that tale of Tashi. On the one hand, it is very well told and a great fable with a terrific message that is relevant for the movie in question. But on the other hand, it takes way too much screen time from the main storyline, resulting in the structure feeling a bit off.

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The pacing in Travellers and Magicians is all over the place, but the directing is strong and the acting is pretty good, though I wished for better character development myself. Still, the atmosphere is amazing, the cinematography is beautiful and the film is even spiritual in its leisurely pace, uneventful narrative and episodic nature.

Travellers and Magicians deals with the question of whether or not grass really is greener on the other side. It approaches this eternal struggle with an open mind and it only solidifies the difficulty in this decision with that strongly ambiguous ending. The episodic structure was problematic here and that tale being told at the center of the movie took too much screen time from the main storyline, but still the film is nuanced, thematically rich and even spiritual in its tone.

My Rating – 4