Guns, votes and lesson for us all

We begin with a young monk, Tashi, attendant to a lama, traversing a peaceful field to a mountain village, Ura. He’s on his way to hear an unusual request: The lama needs a gun. Or two. Before the full moon comes in a few days. “Things need to be made right,” he says, cryptically.

What could the lama mean? Guns are not a normal part of this society. If there's a gun lying around, it’s a big deal. Which leads us to Ron Coleman, an American (Harry Einhorn), and his visit to Bhutan.

“Tell people you’re here to see Buddhist temples,” Ron’s host and fixer Benji (Tandin Sonam) tells him when he arrives. But Ron is there to procure, for a collector, a prized 19th-century American gun that somehow resides with a Bhutanese farmer.

From left, Harry Einhorn, Tandin Sonam and Tandin Wangchuk in a scene from

Dorji toggles between these two storylines: politics and guns, with the clock ticking to both the full moon and the mock election. It's a tumultuous time, with news reports suggesting the transition to democracy is unpopular.

Gun dealer Ron is so eager to acquire the historic weapon, he offers the owner $75,000. That is not acceptable to the farmer — it's too much! So a deal is struck for much less. But while Ron is off collecting the cash, the monk shows up, seeking a gun for his lama.

Who’ll get the gun? You can count on Dorji to find a way to tie his threads together in a way both comic and biting, both entertaining and provocative.

One example is the way Ron is described by his Bhutanese cohort in an effort to gain respect for his knowledge of guns: “Mr Ron is an expert. In his country there are more guns than people!”

Most of the cast are making acting debuts. One, Tandin Wangchuk as Tashi, is a Bhutanese alt-rock star. The villagers in Ura are mostly actual villagers of Ura. The lama is indeed the actual (and only) village lama, Kelsang Choejay.

And it is he who keeps us all wondering: What the heck does he want with these guns? Dorji holds the suspense and finds a way to surprise us in a deeply satisfying way.

The director has said he simply hopes his home country — population about 790,000, known for its beauty and its official imperative of Gross National Happiness— has something to teach the rest of the world. “It’s not who we are,” that elderly woman says about the rudeness. It’s clear Dorji is hoping we’ll be looking at her, then ourselves, and wondering just who we are and want to be.