First Hit: A wonderfully told tale of how a Tibetan master teacher is found and re-identified as embodying the spirit of one who has passed.
Having delved into Buddhism and specifically Tibetan Buddhism I was excited to see this film. Like Kundun by Martin Scorsese, this film follows the path of how a reincarnated master is found. In Kundun it was the 14th Dalai Lama, in Unmistaken Child it was Geshe Lama Konchog.
This film spends little time on explaining this Tibetan tradition, but takes you on a journey to find Geshe Lama's reincarnation with his student and lifelong attendant Tenzin Zopa as your guide. Tenzin Zopa is marvelous in his open honesty and one can see his beautiful spirit when he meets with people along this journey.
He is chosen to find the reincarnation of his master, a job he deems overwhelming and unprepared for, however, because he is asked by the highest Lamas, therefore he does this job with all his spirit. He seeks the guidance of an astrologer living in Taiwan who tells him the direction he must travel and also that the child’s father’s name begins with an A.
With this information, the audience watches as he spends years meeting children until he finds the Unmistaken Child. He’s nervous when he takes the child to other master lamas for testing, but his pick is true and in the end the Dalai Lama confers his blessing on the child.
The most touching part of the film is when Tenzin Zopa has to tell the child’s parents that their child will be taken away from them and put in a monastery.
Tenzin Zopa is wonderful, open, expressive and unmistakably beautiful. The child is the reincarnation of this revered teacher and the quickness in which he learns to confer blessings on the people who visit him is amazing.
Overall: An incredibly beautiful film about how a spiritual leader in the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism is chosen.