After reposting Interconnectedness yesterday, I discovered a copy of the DVD on the front room shelves, its cover in Dutch. It’s easy to get an English translation from Google:
An old Zen master, an insecure disciple, and an orphan—surrounded by the elemental forces of water, fire, earth, wind, and air.
In a dilapidated monastery hidden in the mountains lives an old Zen master with his followers: Kibong, a young monk who fled the city, and Haejin, a child. One day, Haejin accidentally kills a bird, cruelly separating a mated pair. The surviving bird follows him closely, teaching Haejin to understand life’s fundamental suffering: death and life’s transience, interconnectedness and passion, sin and fear.
“A sensitive debut… a feast of sound, color, and light.” Before the old monk dies, he tasks Kibong with cremating his body. Kibong must perform the ceremony at night, high in the mountains. The flames flicker throughout the night, dissolving the barrier between life and death, between good and evil, granting Kibong an experience that transcends words.
As I said in Interconnectedness, you can see the full film on YouTube, courtesy of Cinema Paradiso.