This film reminded me of Tarkovsky. It is very slow, and the slowness becomes almost breathtaking. The visual style is amazing, and the music is wonderful too.
At the very end the monk climbs a mountain, with a millstone literally tied around his waist, carrying a statue of the Buddha of Compassion, I think as a penance. In the stream as he crosses it, the camera pans down, and there is a tiny minnow, with a little pebble tied with a tiny thread around its middle, and it's swimming forward with the pebble. Then a bit later you see a frog, hopping with a little stone tied to it. And later a snake pulling a rock tied it its body. I know my animal-advocate friends will disapprove, though I imagine the Director untied the animals very carefully after their starring roles. In the film it was great imagery about the unity of life.
Also a monk writes a sutra using a cat's tail as a brush, and the cat deserves a moggy Oscar for his sterling effort.
