Feeling tired and spent after New Year's Eve festivities, I was scanning through channels and my eye caught the opening credits of this documentary. An impressive roster of composers were listed under "Music", making me pause and wait to see. What followed was an unexpected aesthetic, intellectual and visceral experience. Perhaps, as some other commenters have written, "Giant Buddhas" suffers from an identity crisis, alternating from straight documentary style to indie "art" movie. Visually, it does the same, presenting some sequences in a reportage style, as if shot using unglamorous digital, and others filmed as is David Lean was directing. This vacillation was not a hindrance to me: the bounty and quality of information and imagery confirmed the idea of how rich and deep this story of Afghanistan's Buddha's is. It is useless to summarize or highlight the flow and peaks of this epic poem to Afghanistan; devote an evening to it for yourself.
Review of The Giant Buddhas
