Could 26 million hugs be wrong?
Jan Kounen's documentary,
Darshan: The Embrace
, is a remarkable cinematic offering on India and the spiritual guru Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, lovingly referred to as Amma. This outstanding woman uses her arms to heal the world one person at a time, in one instance sitting for more than 20 hours dispensing hugs to over 40,000 people. The film is a visual feast that circumvents the matriarch as she travels for
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several months from her own ashram in South India throughout the country.
Darshan
is a Sanskrit term meaning "vision of the divine" and refers to the belief that blessings can be conferred on one caught in the sights of a saintly person. Amma states she believes she shares a responsibility with God to help people who are suffering.
The film opens with striking black-and-white footage in which Amma, as a girl, cleans the wounds of a leper by licking the puss from the man's open sores. In present day we see her in her ashram orchestrating an international call to prayer for peace and later as she speaks to a devotee who cries from the happiness of being near Amma. The specifics of how she became a teacher and founded an ashram are unexplained, but it is clear her message of love is powerful and infectious. Indeed, even a sick elephant she offers blessings to begins to dance and trumpet in exultation.
Darshan
is an homage to the woman that sees the divine in us all. Kounen makes copious attempts to illustrate a world touched by the celestial, a feat assisted by the delicate sound design of Nicholas Becker and the music of Jean-Jacques Hertz. The camera floats down hallways, up stairs and over balconies, enveloping us with 360-degree views of Amma's world. Sebastien Pentecouteau's cinematography is wonderfully creative, ranging from pictorial images of children on a merry-go-round to the cinematic, sweeping coverage of a Rajasthani palace. The lens moves from pertinent information about the locale and the atmosphere to more languid montages of India, the results of which are inspirational and meditative, but may prove excessive to some.
In this, his second documentary, the Dutch born Kounen demonstrates his beginnings as a music video director in France. He uses moving images and sound design to evoke feelings in the place of narrative, a display of artistry that backfires in certain places. Amma's impressive list of accomplishments are hinted at during a brief scene in which an editor sits in front of a monitor fast-forwarding through press footage. As he pauses on the headlines, we hear that Amma has founded hospitals, orphanages and received awards shared with the likes of Kofi Annan and
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Martin Luther King, Jr. The brief scene sparks a desire for more details of her accomplishments, but no more information is given. As the film shifts between coverage of Amma's services and indulgent depictions of her country, one isn't always sure there is a connection.
Darshan
is a film told from an insider's perspective, from the point of view of a believer, for whom facts and details are of little importance. There are no interviews with any non-devotees and all of the accounts are similar testimonies to the existence of Amma's great selflessness. Whether out of reverence or fear of exposing her humanity, Kounen maintains a distance from Amma's personal story. The consequence of his choice is a reverent but, unfortunately, incomplete depiction of the woman and her staggering life's work.
Audiences will be enthralled by the photography and Amma's untiring devotion to mankind but, ultimately,
Darshan
conveys little information or insight. Though an effort comprised of the highest intentions, the film is a missed opportunity to deconstruct the existence of a modern saint.
