Finding your individual life path is tough and trying, from the terrible twos thru teenage years to tentative steps in love.
Now consider that on a broader scale – creating a religion. From setting the parameters to engaging followers, moving into issues of politics and facing legacy. Two films in Victoria this month offer a high caliber and thought-provoking look at personal and community evolution.
In Call Me By Your Name, a love story between two young men, there is a sophisticated sensuality that you will ponder long after you leave the theatre. And as images and metaphors coalesce in your mind, you will realize so much more about self discovery than what you saw in your first viewing.
The Last Dalai Lama moves in a different direction, trying to discover the essence of the man while examining the effects of Buddhism and the future of his reincarnation when the Chinese are holding most of the cards.
Both films present moral goodness as a path that includes holding our past and our pain as key markers to development.
Kathy Kay is director of the Victoria Film Festival.