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Bhutan is a classroom still
When it comes to Bhutan, most people may think of impressions of the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism, or the happiest country in the world. Among these answers, it may be difficult to relate to "education," let alone the story of Lunana, a mountain village that you may never have had the opportunity to visit in your lifetime.
The hidden dangers and crises behind happiness
Bhutanese cinema is unfamiliar to most viewers, even fans of the world, just as this "dream country" is a mysterious outline of people. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom was the first Bhutanese film I've ever seen, in which, in addition to the expected mountains, rivers, and magnificent nature that are as beautiful as paintings, but more importantly, with a glimpse of the concerns that are taking place in Bhutan. If you're as new as I am, make this simple yet rather moving work your first Bhutanese film.
The protagonist is a young Bhutanese who wants to run away, and although he is a teacher, he has little interest in education. He wanted to do "cooler work" more than a teacher, but because of his contract, he was forced to teach in the remote village of Runana. The film focuses on how the protagonist, who cares nothing about everything, ignores the local culture and throws himself into the popular and mainstream civilization of the West, how to re-embrace this homeland, appreciate the rapidly changing nature, and respect the traditional culture that has been passed down from generation to generation.
Stills from "Bhutan is a Classroom"
Because of the teacher, you can see the future
The film devotes a great deal of time to the process of "Heading to Lunana", narrating the teacher's trek through mountains and rivers and hike for eight days from the capital city of Thimphu to the small village of Lunana. Upon arriving at Runana, he was greeted by the difficulties and inconveniences of the living environment, and he had to be forced to abandon his habits of living in the modern city, although in the face of the warm reception of the villagers, he only responded perfunctorily and politely, and as expected, at that time he had the idea of leaving.
Compared with the hardships of traveling from the capital of Bhutan to the villages, when depicting the departure of the latter section, it takes almost only one shot to quickly change from the mountains to Sydney, Australia, which is like a world away, and from the difference in length between the two, it can be seen that "from luxury to simplicity" has always been much rare since ancient times. Because of this, the beauty of the village and the simplicity and cuteness of the villagers were invisible to him when he first arrived; he only saw his own incompatibility, and the use of modern standards to examine and reject this new environment that had just arrived.
What did the protagonist see later that made him think about staying? There is a dialogue in the film where young teachers ask students about their future aspirations in the first class, and one of the students says, "I want to be a teacher when I grow up," and he then asks, "Why?" The male classmate replied:
Because the teacher can see the future.
While he despised his profession, these rural children, who lacked educational resources, gave him guidance. At this time, he saw his importance to the children, saw the power of education, and truly embraced the village for the first time. The film's English title, Luna: A Yak in the Classroom, literally translates to "Runana: A Calf in the Classroom", and the calf is a symbol of purity and purity, which coincides with the innocence of these Bhutanese students. Because of education, they have undergone a qualitative change in this classroom.
This is also the most inspiring place of this film, seemingly happy, desireless and desireless Bhutanese country, in fact, the country's well-educated, the most promising young people only want to develop outside, which is also a common problem faced by most countries in the world. However, for Bhutan, the brain drain is a very ironic social dilemma under the banner of "happiest country" - is it true happiness to leave Bhutan?
There is a worldwide bias towards education
I think of the Taiwanese film "Teacher, Will You Come Back," which also explores rural education, three years ago, and the 2013 French documentary "On The Way To School," which describes the difficulties of children in different countries in school. Taiwanese director Yang Yajie also filmed a documentary "Salute to Love", which not only reflects the plight of children in remote areas, but also includes the role relationship between parents, teachers and volunteers. From this not a small number of film and television works, it can be seen that rural education has never been an unpopular issue.
Behind these works is the fact that regardless of whether the country is rich or not, the problem of uneven distribution of educational resources is almost universal. The absence of the right to be taught is due to inaccessibility and underpopulation, and either students have to walk a long way to go to school, or they have to gamble their luck to see if any teachers are willing to go. If the problem of education has not been solved, it will only deepen class replication in the end, and the rich will always get rich, and the poor will find it difficult to turn around.
In order to solve the problem of rural education, we often invest money and equipment, but they are not only lacking in hardware equipment such as teaching aids, teaching materials or computers, but also lacking teachers who can stay for a long time. As can be seen from this film, nature can be used as teaching aids, and music can be used as teaching materials, but someone must be willing to be the bridge of knowledge to improve the vicious circle of uneven distribution of education, which still depends on the government and civil society organizations, repairing and assisting inside and outside the system.
Although "Bhutan is a Classroom" uses a typical three-act drama form, it is not difficult to guess how the plot will develop, but in the era of pursuing infinite realism and showmanship of animation special effects, the film presents a touch and a loss, which is a rare truth and everything in this generation. The audience can discover the most original charm of the film, and also re-recognize that education is a huge revolution that is difficult to see obvious changes in a short period of time, like staring at the clock ticking, the hour and minute hands seem to be motionless, and after a while they suddenly find that they have unconsciously advanced a lot.
It is precisely because of these educators who do not ask for returns and still bow down and pay their best that we can inherit the power of this education and become more profound people.