Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (2021)

There is so much to love about this movie from Bhutan, nominated in the Best International Film caategory for the Oscars this year. It is filmed in Lunana, which really is the eight day journey on foot that is depicted in the movie and spectacularly beautiful. The actors are largely cast by the fact that they live there than by their having trained as actors. One review I read said that the kids who are in it had never seen a camera before the filming. The story goes like this. Ugyen is a selfish and not impressively talented singer young man who is 4 years into a 5 year government teaching obligation. He is phoning it in, making no effort to disguise his lack of engagement, so his supervisor decides to punish him, to send him to the most remote school in Bhutan for his final year. Upon his arrival he is desperate to go home, but the longer he stays, the more he fits in and the villagers actually get him. He gives to them and they give back. There are a few twists but it is largely a coming of age story with a heaping dollop of cultural context. Spctacularly good.