This is being touted sometimes as a documentary, which it absolutely is not. Its mainly just a series of fragmentary and unexplained glimpses of life in Plum Village (located in rural SW France), involving both monastic residents and temporary visitors, plus some scenes of monks and nuns traveling abroad. There isn't much dialog, and virtually no "teaching".
I kind of enjoyed it; but this was possibly ONLY because I've experienced silent Buddhist meditation retreats and thus have some idea of what's going on, and I already know who Thich Nhat Hanh is and what Plum Village is about. Viewers without any basic foreknowledge are going to be totally lost from the get-go.
Thich Nhat Hanh is of course legendary, and in the past I have enjoyed listening to recordings of a few of his Dharma talks which I find rewarding. This presentation does not provide anything remotely like that.
I think that the main thing I came away with was a reconfirmation that I'm not a likely candidate for strict monkhood!
I kind of enjoyed it; but this was possibly ONLY because I've experienced silent Buddhist meditation retreats and thus have some idea of what's going on, and I already know who Thich Nhat Hanh is and what Plum Village is about. Viewers without any basic foreknowledge are going to be totally lost from the get-go.
Thich Nhat Hanh is of course legendary, and in the past I have enjoyed listening to recordings of a few of his Dharma talks which I find rewarding. This presentation does not provide anything remotely like that.
I think that the main thing I came away with was a reconfirmation that I'm not a likely candidate for strict monkhood!