Walk With Me provides an up-close glimpse of the life of devotion, focusing on the monks and nuns who live at a rural monastery led by Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh.
Credited with introducing the practice of mindfulness to the West, the 90-year-old has been limited in his activities as the result of a recent stroke, but for a long time he appeared regularly on the lecture circuit, and many Americans (including this one) have heard him speak and been guided through meditations by him. To convey the powerful calm of his presence would be a tall order for any film. The documentary by Max Pugh and Marc J. Francis certainly has its potent moments. But its mix of the contemplative and the observational finally proves more illustrative than immersive.
What Walk With Me offers first and foremost is the chance to spend time at Plum Village, the monastic community that Nhat Hanh established in 1982 in southwestern France. The vérité film, which distills the directors’ three years of access into a scrapbook of moments at the monastery and during stateside tours, provides no background on the monk and activist, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King. The focus, as it should be in keeping with the practice of mindfulness, is on the here and now. part1
The filmmakers (who share DP duties) capture a range of day-to-day activity in the monastery’s idyllic sylvan setting. On the contemplative side, there are slow, purposeful walks through the woods, meals shared in silence, the ritual shaving of heads. On a more nitty-gritty level, there are website updates, food preparation, and reception procedures for paying visitors.
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