MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Sadhana’ Stumbles en Route to the Himalayas

In the documentary--or docu-drama--”Sadhana” (which opens today for four days at the Nuart), a slim, trimly ascetic Quebecois named Marcel wanders off to the Ganges, the Himalayas and Haridwar with a series of gurus who keep lecturing him on finding the self. The road to the truth, we are often reminded, is hard and cold, strewn with ashes. Unfortunately, this movie, wafting along on its rosy carpet of New Age flutes and synthesizers (scored by Jean-Pierre Labreche), seems to be taking a few shortcuts.

In letters home, Marcel talks about the path he has chosen, about the masters to whom he must submit, the comforts he must eschew, the power and the fullness that he senses is around here somewhere in India and into which he wants to dissolve himself--like a sugar lump in hot tea?

Finally, he is taken by his ash-covered adviser for a dip in the river during the Kumbh Mela, a mass holy ceremony that takes place every 12 years and coincides here with the arrival of Halley’s Comet.

All this is touching. The various spiritual advisers dispense wisdom cheerily, mostly in English, though they tend to repeat the same thing endlessly. But questions persist. Who is Marcel? Why is he being followed everywhere by a camera and sound crew? Are these events actual or restaged?

In the press book, Marcel is identified as Marcel Poulin--also the film’s co-writer-director with Jean-Pierre Piche--a Quebec restaurateur. Did Poulin give away his restaurant to follow the path?

But maybe we’re being crass, unspiritual, Old Age. Poulin and Piche wanted to make a film about the Kumbh Mela and their sponsors nudged them into “personalizing” the film. Hence the dreamy Marcel, the phony dramatic structure, the wistful narration. After all, to paraphrase “Sadhana” (Times-rated: Family), the road to cinema is hard and cold, strewn with ashes. To find the self, we must bury the self, then catch it with a camera and tape recorder. And repeat ourselves. Endlessly.

‘SADHANA’

A Movie Visions presentation produced with the assistance of Telefilm Canada. Producer/director/editor Jean-Pierre Piche. Co-director Marcel Poulin. Script Sid Goldberg, Piche, Poulin. Camera Claude Larue. Music Jean-Pierre Labreche. Sound Roch Garneau. Co-producer Guy Desautels.

Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Time-rated: Family.