Mandala (film)

Mandala
Theatrical poster
Hangul
만다라
Hanja
Revised RomanizationMandara
McCune–ReischauerMantara
Directed byIm Kwon-taek
Written byKim Song-dong (novel)
Lee Sang-hyon
Song Kil-han
Produced byPark Chong-chan
StarringAhn Sung-ki
Jeon Moo-song
Kim Jong-su
CinematographyJeong Il-seong
Edited byLee Do-won
Music byKim Chong-gil
Distributed byHwa Chun Trading Company
Release date
  • September 12, 1981 (1981-09-12)
Running time
117 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

Mandala (Korean만다라) is a 1981 South Korean film about Buddhist monks in Korea based on the novel of the same name by Kim Seong-dong, who spent 10 years as a Buddhist monk. This is considered by many critics to be director Im Kwon-taek's breakthrough as a cinematic artist.

Plot

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A bus stops in front of a checkpoint and soldiers begin to check the passengers. Monk Ji-san is caught without proper ID, and the young monk Beop-woon follows him. Ji-san is released after chanting Buddha's name as ordered by the soldiers.

Beop-woon meets Ji-san again while the latter drinks at a temple. Ji-san says Buddha is not found only at Buddhist temples, and Beop-woon realizes that he has achieved nothing after six years of practice. Beop-woon follows Ji-san as he sets off again. After repeatedly splitting up and reuniting again, they begin living together at a small hermitage in the mountains. Ji-san, who helps a shaman with the traditional Buddhist ritual of opening of the eyes, asks who will do the same for him, drinks alcohol, assumes a lotus position and freezes to death. Beop-woon cremates Ji-san in a ceremony and gives a Buddha statue that Ji-san had to Ok-sun, a woman the late monk could never forget. Beop-woon meets his mother, who abandoned him as a child, for the last time and embarks on the long road of suffering.

Awards

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Notes

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  1. ^ Lee, Young-il (1988). The History of Korean Cinema. Motion Picture Promotion Corporation. ISBN 89-88095-12-X., p.343.
  2. ^ Hartzell, Adam. A Review of Im Kwon-Taek: The Making of a Korean National Cinema at www.koreanfilm.org

Sources

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