I Dono Know

"The Cup" as per my consideration an average short movie. It is a pleasant movie about teenager monks and their love towards the football game. Firstly many things related to Buddhist philosophy and culture is shown. How they perform their ritual to somebody in the FAMILY. But at that time it also shows the way teenagers monks dislike (or better to say less like) these traditions. The characters within the film take their time in maturing. Most of the change we see within them occurs after the climax of the film. For instance, Orgyen Tobgyal, the child obsessed with football, was a very easily despised character right up until the last few minutes of the movie. He was obnoxious, self-centered, and thoughtless. It took the entire hour and a half for him to mature into a thinking and caring human being.

The other boys in the movie also mature but none as drastically as Orgyen. At the end of the movie, after seeing the World Cup, all our adolescent characters have a changed personality. It is questionable if the World Cup changed them or if we are just seeing another side of their life, but they are definitely not that same boys who slept or passed notes throughout classes. They are listening and actively participating in their lessons.

The movie itself provided an outlook on the lives of monks. While much of the movie was likely fictional, some of the life shown through the film must have been true. Seeing how these monks lived without modern technology provided a lens through which I could see my own life. The teachings of Buddhism are quite interesting and seeing this film made me question whether Buddha would believe that someone living outside a monastery could achieve Nirvana. Are the distractions of the modern American life a deterrent to the ultimate achievement required to prevent reincarnation?

While at first glance The Cup seems like a movie about monks and not about Buddhism, upon further analysis we definitely find traces of Buddhist teachings throughout the film. The movie is deceptively simple. On first glance all one sees is a movie about football, but when looking deeper we see a movie about growing up and a movie about the teachings of the Buddha.

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