Travellers and Magicians

I saw Travellers and Magicians a couple of days ago and it's the best film I've seen in a very long time. It's the first major film shot entirely in Bhutan. The director is a Bhutanese lama, Khyentse Norbu.
Dondup, the central character, is a young man who, like young men everywhere, suffers from a bad case of ennui. He dreams about escaping the boredom of his life as a government official and going to America whose culture he idolizes. He heads out to Thimphu, hoping to obtain a US visa there. He ends up hitchhiking with a motley crew of others who are headed for the festival that is taking place in Thimphu. They are a monk, a drunk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his lovely young daughter. To pass the time between rides the monk tells a story about another young man who becomes lost in the forest and ends up seeking shelter from an old man and his much younger wife. This story within a story has many parallels with Dondup's story.
None of the actors is professional yet they give skilled performances. The Himalayan Mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop throughout. The thought of Dondup leaving this incredible landscape for some fast food strip in America makes the viewer want to stop him from making a bad decision.
The movie explores universal themes and does so with a gentle sort of humour. I also enjoyed Norbu's first film, The Cup, about young Buddhist monks in a remote mountain monastery who want more than anything to watch the World Cup on tv.