A Tibetan Buddhist master and his westernized son clash over the young man’s place in the old man’s cultural and religious world. It’s a story as old, or older, than The Jazz Singer. But in My Reincarnation, a documentary by Jennifer Fox, it’s made new again.
B+ Documentary
- Directed by Jennifer Fox
Chögyal Namkhai Norbu travels the world, teaching others the Tibetan Buddhism that has been his life’s work. Recognized when just an infant as the reincarnation of an important yogi, Chögyal started training early in life. As a young man, he escaped Chinese-controlled Tibet and settled in Italy, where he married a once-Catholic local, had two children, and settled down. (He’s a master, not a monk. As such, he was never expected to be celibate.)
His son, Yeshi Silvano Namkhai, was also recognized as the reincarnation of an important master–in fact, of Chögyal’s favorite uncle, who had died in a Chinese
prison. As such, Yeshi also seemed fated to a life as a spiritual master.
But sometimes, the fruit does fall far from the tree. More Italian than Tibetan culturally, Yeshi set out to make a different life for himself. He built a career in technology, working for IBM. Yet, in some ways, his life was surprisingly like his father’s; he travelled a lot for his job, and didn’t see as much of his wife and children as he would have liked.
Slowly, over a period of many years, Yeshi came to embrace his heritage, his past life, and his father’s desires. He gives up his secular career to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Filmmaker Jennifer Fox started interviewing and videotaping father and son way back in 1988. Every few years, she’s returned to the Namkhais to check in on them and record how they were doing.
Fox is a classic cinema vérité documentarian. She points the camera at whoever looks interesting and records the events. Her camera gets close and intimate, allowing us to study the faces of people who have learned to ignore it. She also encourages her subjects to talk about their lives. Yeshi’s commentaries become a present-tense narration for the film, and we see most of the events through his eyes.
This is, of course, a story of Buddhist wisdom, but it’s more universal than that. It’s a story of diaspora, generational clashes, and returning to one’s roots. More than that, it’s a story of two individuals who love each other but can’t see eye to eye.
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