Matthew Turner | On 10, Mar 2023

VOD film review: Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

Director: Pawo Choyning Dorji
Cast: Sherab Dorji, Kelden Lhamo Gurung, Ugyen Norbu Lhendup
Certificate: PG

Written and directed by Bhutan-born and US-educated filmmaker Pawo Choyning Dorji, this charming comedy-drama was nominated for the Best International Film Oscar last year. Essentially, it’s a Bhutanese feel-good movie, ticking all the right boxes in unashamedly uplifting fashion and leaving a huge smile on your face in the process.

Set in Bhutan, the plot centres on twenty-something teacher Ugyen Dorji (Sherhab Dorji), who’s four years into a five-year government contract as a schoolteacher, even though all he really wants to do is move to Australia so he can try and make it as a singer. However, his dreams of stardom are put on an abrupt hold when he’s ordered to do his final teaching year at the most remote school on Earth in Lunana, a tiny village (population: 56) in the shadow of the Himalayas.

After an exhausting trek to the village that lasts nearly a week, an already reluctant Ugyen is less than impressed when he arrives to discover sparse living conditions, no cellphone service and a heating system that depends entirely on fresh supplies of yak dung.

Ugyen tries to quit, but when he’s told that preparations for the return journey will take a week, he has no choice but to make the best of it. Might he possibly be won over by the impossibly charming children, the kindness of the community and the all-around loveliness of Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung), a young woman with a beautiful voice who gifts him with the titular yak in the classroom?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the plot is entirely predictable from beginning to end, but what the film lacks in terms of unexpected plot developments, it more than makes up for in charm. Along the way, Dorji’s kind-hearted script hits all the right beats, so that the audience, like Ugyen, are completely won over by Lunana, even if there probably won’t be a concomitant upswing in tourism.

The performances are delightful. Sherhab Dorji is perfect in the lead, making his journey of acceptance entirely believeable and sparking strong chemistry with both the children and with Kelden Lhamo Gurung, whose peaceful, almost beatific screen presence is captivating. There’s also strong support from Ugyen Norbu Lhendup as helpful local Mishen, and from Kunzang Wangdi as village chief Asha, though the stand-out performance comes from nine-year-old Pem Zam, as the utterly adorable Pem Zam (almost all the actors are first-time performers), the class captain and Ugyen’s most enthusiastic student.

In addition, the landscape is stunning throughout, beautifully captured by cinematographer Jigme Tenzing, while both the soundtrack and the script make strong use of local song, gorgeously performed by Kelden Lhamo Gurung.

Ultimately, there isn’t a moment in Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom that you won’t see coming a mile away, but the feel-good factor is extremely high and succeeds in its goal of provoking both big smiles and a warm, fuzzy glow. The yak (named Norbu) is pretty cute too.

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