Archive for January, 2010

Filmed in 1979 by Peter Brook. A classic spiritual movie of GI Gurdjieff struggles beginning with his childhood until his discovery of The Fourth Way, an ancient spiritual tradition that used sacred movements as meditation. The story in this film is based on Gudjieff’s book with the same title, which is the second book of his trilogy: “All and Everything”. During his long career, director Peter Brook has conducted a wide range of theatrical experiments, pushing audiences and performers well beyond their typical experience of theater, in an effort to achieve not a temporary catharsis but a transcendent, transformative event. As the narrator of THE MAHABHARATA says, “If you listen carefully, at the end, you’ll be somebody else.” This interest in transformation that has characterized the latter part of Brook’s career continues with this adaptation of the autobiography of famed mystic GI Gurdjieff, which stars Dragan Maksimovic. Driven by a sense of unwavering dedication to unraveling the meaning of human existence, he journeys throughout the most unattainable areas of the East, encountering an array of Hindu fakirs, Buddhist monks, whirling dervishes, and gurus of every stripe. In search of enlightenment, he climbs the Himalayas, walks across the desert on stilts, and uncovers evidence of an ancient order, guards of an arcane wisdom. Most fascinating, perhaps, is the form of dance he created as a form of meditation and later taught in the West. A film that may be best appreciated by those already familiar with the work of Gurdjieff, MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE MEN features spectacular photography and a highly evocative score, incorporating various indigenous musics.