ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED
EVERY TIME the European Film Festival rolls around, I scout through the booklet and circle the ones that sound interesting — although I always go in to the cinema with slight apprehension because the booklet never really properly explains what each movie is all about. For example, last year we found ourselves sitting through a documentary about the various cultural attitudes of two cow-herders, which, although mildly interesting, had almost everybody in the cinema scratching their heads, asking themselves, “Am I in the right movie?” So last weekend I ventured over to MovieTowne to see a German film entitled Enlightenment Guaranteed and was pleasantly surprised, considering German films have a reputation for being dull and dry. It began with an introduction to the two main characters – two middle-aged brothers, Gustav and Uwe, who are both living semi-charmed kind of lives but are secretly quite miserable.
Gustav is a Zen-loving meditating Feng Shui consultant who shows people how to create good energy in every room of the house, from the positioning of the bed to the power of windows. Gustav lives with a woman who seems more like a sister than a lover; they both dress in black and try to squeeze a little inner peace into their mind-numbing daily lives. Uwe is a salesman of kitchen counter tops and has a short temper. He also has a frustrated wife and four constantly screaming little kids. Gustav has been planning a solo trip to Japan, the hometown of Buddhism, to stay in a real Buddhist monastery and become one with himself. But after Uwe’s wife packs up everything and leaves a “Dear John” note on the kitchen floor, Gustav finds himself taking his emotional wreck of a brother with him to Japan. Japan, as usual, is portrayed as a land of wacky Asians all talking on cell-phones in an undecipherable language, surrounded by the bright lights of Tokyo and an endless stream of millions of people. Uwe, on his portable camcorder, starts to film their journey together, while also trying to deal with his wife’s abandonment.
On their first night there, the two brothers stand in the street and pick two large neon street signs as landmarks so they can find their way back to the hotel, but the neon signs are turned off during the night and the brothers find themselves utterly lost with nothing but a few hundred Yen in their pocket. They then try to take a cab back to the hotel by giving a taxi-driver a card that they think has the address of the hotel, but they are deposited further away than ever. An ATM on the side of the road then eats their bank cards while the little animated Japanese girl on the screen mockingly bows to them. Lost, hungry, broke and cranky, Uwe and Gustav take refuge in two cardboard boxes in a cemetery with the rest of Tokyo’s homeless for the first night, but steal a large yellow tent from a department store the next day. During the day they wander around Tokyo, encountering the locals, and reading from Gustav’s Book of Zen.
They have lost everything - but it is only when the brothers lose each other in the human traffic of the city that they truly start on their personal journeys to enlightenment. Gustav takes to singing “I Will Survive” in his native tongue at the train station hoping to get some loose change, where he meets a young German girl who tries to help him find his way back. Uwe, in the meantime, has pitched his yellow tent close to a train station, and luckily that night Gustav catches sight of the tent while riding on the train with his new friend. She offers the brothers room and board for the night, and takes Uwe and Gustav to work in a German bar so they can make enough cash to reach the monastery. Now, this is where the film totally changes. The first half of it was about their adventures in Tokyo, but the second half is an account of what happens when they finally do reach the monastery.
Gustav has been saving and waiting an entire year for his trip to the monastery, but finds that it was not quite what he expected. During their five days there the brothers are mentally tested, and Gustav, overweight and out of shape, eventually collapses with soreness and despair, while ironically his brutish brother, perpetually filming on his camcorder, adopts the Buddhist way of life effortlessly. Monastery life is quiet and the schedule is strict — a cold water bath in the morning, a light meal, sweeping the bamboo garden, and cleaning the floors. But during their stay, the two brothers rekindle their bond, come to terms with their personal issues, and eventually make friends with the shy and kind monks. Gustav and Uwe walk away from the experience understanding the true meaning of enlightenment — that only when you lose everything that you believe has value for you do you finally experience true freedom. It has a sort of similar message as Fight Club: “The things you own end up owning you.”
Both men realise that they had been trying so hard to be in control of their lives and had placed so much value on their possessions that they had lost touch with their inner selves – the selves that only came through when they found themselves lost, broke and in an alien environment. From the reviews (thank you Internet) I found out that the movie was filmed on a shoe-string budget with nothing but two hand-held digital cameras and no costume designer, art director or composer. Much to my delight I also learnt that their time in the monastery was authentic – the cast and crew lived in the Sojiji Soin Father Temple for two weeks, adhering to their strict rules while filming. My favourite line of the movie was in a scene where the brothers are in their monastery room at night, and Gustav is filming with Uwe’s camera. Gustav asks his brother why he is wearing sunglasses in bed at night, and Uwe answers back, “Too much enlightenment dazzles me.” Don’t be afraid of subtitles – go to the film festival while it lasts.
Comments
"ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED"