Samsara (2003)

Beautiful, passionate love-story about a Tibetan monk, Tashi, who leaves his monastery to pursue his physical desires. After a long meditation and a number of telling signs, his preoccupation with a woman he had seen once (and also the world outside of the monastery), forces him to leave his home of 20 years. He meets the woman, Pema, and they eventually marry and raise a son together in her small mountain village. They struggle to live in the village and overcome the difficulties that arise due to Tashi being an outsider.

The movie didn't have much dialogue, and many of the changes were handled visually, were suggested. The right choice for a movie. I could only find very little English information about director Pan Nalin, although it seemed like there were a number of links to French websites. Apparently, he filmed for National Geographic. Nonetheless, the movie was particularly nice as it showed the woman's side of the Siddhartha story. As far as I could tell, Siddhartha left his wife and son to seek enlightenment. In this movie, it didn't come across as a particularly acceptable action and, as a result, appeared to be a fresh take on what, I assume, is generally an overlooked part of that myth. I'm not an expert so it's difficult to say without doing more research. Vivid, picturesque movie which was cheapened by the gratuitous sex.