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The Monk and the Gun

This Bhutanese comedy drama is part of the Perth Festival and it follows the country's attempts to move from a monarchy to a democracy in 2006. In the small town of Ura, a novice monk, Tashi (Tandin Wangchuk) is tasked with finding two guns for his Lama, played by real life monk Kelsang Choejay. He's not told why but he gets on with the job. At the same time, a 'fixer/tour guide' from Thimphu, Benji (Tandim Sonam) gets a gig driving a newly arrived American, Ronald (Harry Einhorn) around the country in search of a particularly valuable US Civil War rifle. You might be able to see where this is going...

This is satire in deep cover. It might even be satire adjacent, such is its mildness. This is not a bad thing. At times I felt like I was experiencing an old Ealing comedy, or maybe a low-key Ken Loach. The government sends officers around the country to run a mock election to show people how to vote, and one of them, Tshering Yangden (Pema Zangmo Sherpa) wanders through the film in a semi-bemused state, vacillating between respect for the ways of the countryside and disdain for the backwardness of the yokels. Ultimately, this exchange between her and a local woman, Tshomo (Deki Lhamo) informs the whole film:

Tshering: "Other countries had to fight for this right. We've been given it."

Tshomo: "Well, if we didn't have to fight for it, maybe we don't need it."

As things meander to a conclusion, the police notice the American they're looking for on TV and head to Ura. Everyone arrives at a certain ceremony that the Lama is hosting to coincide with the mock elections. No spoilers here but a shootout does not occur. In a very wry cultural twist, the American, desperate to get his hands on the gun, is given a huge, red, wooden penis as a token of the Bhutanese people's gratitude.

The Monk and the Gun is writer/director Pawo Choyning Dorji's second feature (after Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom) and it's an affecting, if slightly harmless charmer the delivers a sly poke to Western democracy.

The Monk and the Gun is screening from Dec 16th to 22nd at Somerville Auditorium UWA for the Perth Festival.

See also:

The Ken Loach film I was reminded of is The Angel's Share (2012) but I'm not sure why. I'm also unsure of the Ealing connections, but it's more a tone similarity than anything else, so I'll recommend Charles Crichton's The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).

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