"Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring:

Materialism leads to Militarism"

Film Review by Paki Dechen Palmo

This quietly, exquisitely beautiful S.Korean/German film, written and directed by Kim Ki-Duk, employs a theatrical tableau in its various segments, all of which are thematically connected, as well as being a metaphor for the stages of life.

Characters and their actions tell a moving story of the bond between a Buddhist monk and his young student, throughout one life and into the next.

The lessons about life are decidedly Buddhistic.  Desire leads to possession, says the master, and possession leads to murder.  At first this shocked me, but on reflection it isn't at all difficult to see the larger implications of this truth.  As long as the world is in thrall to materialism, it will also be overrun with militarism -- because possessiveness inevitably leads to aggression.

In Kim Ki-Duk's movie, the master is wise and compassionate, as masters should be.  The young monk is reluctant to renunciate his passions, as most of us are.  And therein lies the tale . . .

In addition to the magical images of the monastery floating on a lake surrounded by lush forest, I loved the transformative symbolism of the snake as a stand-in for the master's departed spirit -- and the implication that while we may run away from our own awakening, it is always there,

patiently waiting for us.   ***

   Paki's novel, "The All Souls' Waiting Room," is now

   available online at www.barnesandnoble.com

   (under the name Paki S. Wright)