Yapo

Yapo (“Honourable Monk”) returns to his faraway monastery in Sikkim after a leg operation. He is accompanied by two young assistants, who are as obedient as they are facetious. This very busy man lives in three places at once: the school he runs, the monastery and the house where his mother lives. Between prayers, lessons, practical matters, the kitchens and his audiences, Yapo never stops running, despite his crippled leg. But what would happen to the monastery without its army of cooks, servants and kitchen boys, without the common people who sweep, wash up, get the ritual objects ready or drive the jeep… Between the seriousness of meditation and the menials’ bursting laughter, the solemnity of prayer and the bustling courtyard, the camera has made its choice. (Yann Lardeau/Marie-Pierre Duhamel-Muller)