Hare Krishna
Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All Documentary. Directed by John Griesser. (Not rated. 90 minutes.)
“Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It All” plays more like a promotional video than a serious documentary about a swami and his spiritual movement. It’s so uncritical of its subject that it has the unintended effect of undermining its mission, which appears to be recruiting new devotees of the faith.
The film gets off to a reasonable start as it introduces us to Srila Prabhupada, who founded the international movement during the 1960s, when some in the counterculture were searching for a more spiritual alternative to drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll.
But it quickly becomes apparent that director John Griesser views Prabhupada in one-dimensional terms: a wise, charismatic guru who can do no wrong. To be fair, Prabhupada has a nice presence and offers some profound thoughts, but we can’t help but notice that this movie seems to be merely an exercise in anointing him for sainthood. Making him more human would have made him more interesting.
“Hare Krishna!” limits its interviews to mostly true believers. They are well spoken and photogenic, perfect messengers for this public relations effort, which is reminiscent of those slick films you see when a political party is nominating a president at the national convention.
The movie shows signs of life when it presents segments about devotees Allen Ginsberg and George Harrison. And there is brief humor found in clips from “Airplane II” and “Hannah and Her Sisters,” which poked fun at the movement’s penchant for dancing and chanting.
But revealing moments in this glorified infomercial are few and far between. Most of the time, the film is a story waiting to be told.