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Put in the words of the film’s chief antagonist, Kardon (played by Sonam Choki), when she asks, “Who has seen this thing called bardo?” the film proposes the idea that reality isn’t immediately perceptible. Kardon rhetorically asks in another scene, “If your face is like a flower, who’s to tell that your heart harbours thorns?”
Kardon is an unscrupulous, ambitious and manipulative woman, who kills her brother-in-law, Tenzin (Tshering Phuntsho), so that his brother (her husband), Wangdue (Karma Chhechong), can usurp his place at the head of a successful business empire.
That is one of the two stories in Bardo, told in the Macbeth vein, where it takes one ambitious step to begin an inescapable sink into thicker mire. The other parallel story is one that Buddhists will relate to; it concerns the progression of Wangdue’s soul through the six stages of bardo.
Bardo attempts to correlate a being’s sufferings, brought about by greed, anger, ignorance, pride and jealousy; and suggests that virtuous deeds accumulate good karma, thereby enabling the soul to transcend to a better form in order to progressively gain enlightenment. Religion is, thus not just an element in the film, it is the element.
Pretty much everything in Bardo – costumes, sets, special effects and dialogue – is overloaded. The first conversation between Kardon and Wangdue, for example, leaves you marvelling at the creativity of the scriptwriter, but doubting the plausibility of a real life couple ever speaking to each other in verse, and in singsong tones.
Yet it is for the same reasons that one, conversely, appreciates the sheer effort that has gone into its making. The hard work off-camera certainly deserves applause and bodes well for the future of Bhutanese filmmaking.
Like every other Bhutanese film, Bardo is a musical. Song sequences are necessarily, and awkwardly, interwoven into the story. But the music and dance smack of originality and character.
At a time, when the Bhutanese film machinery is churning out little other than lame romances, frivolous action thrillers and melodramatic tear-jerkers, Bardo stands out as a challenging alternative.
Bardo is currently screening at Trowa Theatre in Thimphu.
Source: Kuenselonline
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