A Masterpiece!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Kumare is an extraordinary documentary. Vichram Ghandi (Kumare) has done such a great job directing as well as being the main character of this film. The questions that are being discussed in the documentary might have passed your thoughts before. Most people search for guidance in spiritual connections between them and God and the closest thing to that is a guru. Now I'm not sure if it's staged or not but Vichram is a genius for being able to handle such character. Each one of us has been in that phase of questioning our faith and I think it's important to watch documentaries that discuss such topics to reduce that sense of negligence in ourselves.

"Kumaré" is a bit like a Hindu version of "Marjoe." And like that movie, we end up wondering if the audience, too, is being taken on a ride. Deceptive charisma can cut both ways. Most documentaries rely on a certain amount of editorial manipulation to create a coherent narrative. Sometimes the business of creating narrative crosses the line between events that happen and events that are constructed. Many instances during the film raised doubts about documentary fidelity:1. The participants seem unaware of the camera, even when it is right in front of them. Were they coached so successfully that they never glanced at it?2. How did Gandhi get signed legal release forms from all these people? Were they compensated for their participation?3. Was ALL the footage real-time recording or were some of the scenes reenacted? Was any of it scripted or rehearsed?Gandhi probably could have withheld the final reveal from us until the end of the movie. He decides instead to clue us in on the deception from the beginning (and that's where Gandhi's role as a reliable narrator comes into question). Doing so allows the use of circular form -- starting the movie near "the end" and backtracking to the setup and then proceeding forward again until we catch up with the opening scene. The problem with that, however, is that waiting well over an hour to see how an "unveiling" to which we are already privy will play out begins to wear on the viewer's patience. This would have been a stronger film at half its unnecessarily drawn-out length.The film's strongest aspect is the implied examination of the strife between rational and emotional epistemology. Rationalists want to know whether or not the Emperor is actually wearing new clothes as a point of objective and external reality. Emotionalists want to see beauty in the new clothes that the Emperor may or may not be wearing and are willing to create an internal reality that feeds their expectations. Winnowing out what is real and what is not may not be at the epicenter of belief acquisition for everyone. In the end, we see that spiritualism is a kind of stone soup. The characterization may be a deception because the stone has no taste, but the soup is still flavorful because of the bits of meat and carrot and potato that the believers bring to the broth. People yearn to be in fellowship with others. Almost any stone that can make that happen is going to attract people. But it shouldn't take 84 minutes to underscore that point.

This is my first IMDb review- I gave it an 8 just to get started but I admit I have no personal rating system of my own (yet). I am glad this film was made because I think many people in "the west" have left mainstream religion (which I think is a good thing) but then just jump onto another type of human construct such as Eastern (OR Western) mysticism and/or any number of pseudosciences that are just types of hopeologys or whishologys.SO- I like this type of film (and films like "Religulous"). I feel they do a great service to society.But I do have to say one thing- I would have been one to walk out and later give him a piece of my mind because I value truth over all things. But that's just me. On the other hand, I would never be there in the first place! :)The description of the movie tells you exactly what the film is about and it delivered exactly what I thought it would (in a good way).

The quote at the beginning best sums it up. "Faith begins as an experiment and ends as an experience". He started off as a skeptic trying to see how well he could trick people. By the end he had discovered something about himself. He himself did not realize that he could become that person, his "ideal self". He has found at the end of the movie that he was the one who was tricking himself. He thought that he was tricking his disciples into believing he was a holy man. In reality he discovered that everyone has that holiness in them and that ability to do good. Nobody in this movie should feel offended because he was tricked just as much as they were.