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Film review

Beauty and wisdom

By STEVE PERSALL
Published September 14, 2006

Mystic India (NR, probably G) (40 min.) - Keith Melton's documentary has the usual IMAX delights: exotic sights and sounds from somewhere audiences think they know well and probably don't. What sets Mystic India apart from the usual travelogues and academia is a story deserving feature-length treatment. Like Everest and Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure, this would be an excellent idea for conventional screens, too.

Melton focuses on the true story of Neelkanth, who left home in 1792 at age 11 on an astonishing journey around India, from Himalayan peaks to parched deserts, spreading preternatural Hindu wisdom. Barefoot and packing only faith for protection, Neelkanth followed the leads of spiritual yogis and surpassed them all in Indian lore, on a trip taking seven years, covering nearly 8,000 miles.

Mystic India uses Neelkanth's path as an outline for displaying the varied geography and colorful culture of one of the world's largest nations. We watch re-creations of his visits to villages where his calm examples of devotion to Hindu principles revitalized India's spirit. One village is being terrorized nightly by a lion, causing citizens to plead with Neelkanth to find shelter inside the temple. If death is unavoidable, he says, why fear it? That night, the lion comes and lies down with the boy, sensing his inner peace and tamed by it.

Another stop at Jagannath Puri makes Neelkanth the guest of honor at the Festival of Chariots, a lavish spectacle that we're informed by melodious narrator Peter O'Toole gave birth to the word "juggernaut" with its huge parade floats. Melton can't resist straying from the boy's fascinating story to dote on ornate architecture, history lessons and natural wonders. But when they're this breathtaking that is only a minor flaw. The chief lesson overwhelming everything else is harmony - with the world and ourselves - something that can't be measured with test answers, only deeds.

Mystic India opens Saturday at the IMAX Dome Theater at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. It will be shown in rotation with other films, so check in advance for show times. A

- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic

[Last modified September 13, 2006, 13:05:17]