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Every 12 years, the largest gathering of people (nearly 70 million) takes place in India on the banks of the Ganges. Kumbh Mela is a religious Woodstock of sorts where Hindu spiritual leaders mass their flocks for enlightenment, community, and cleansing. The way filmmakers Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day capture it, though, it’s a tawdry spectacle, crowded, dirty, and full of charlatans and commercial opportunists. Perhaps that’s the reality of religion, but there’s little in the way of an opposing viewpoint, only theistic platitudes about connectivity (some even muse that the Internet furthers their cause), love, and peace. The most genuine element is a low-level guru who becomes the film’s de facto tour guide and later questions his own being after falling in with an American blonde. The cinematography is lush and the hypnotic soundtrack conveys an aura of spirituality. Even the Dalai Lama makes an appearance, but all that palls before the band of yogis who perform excruciating feats with their penises. In English and Hindi with English subtitles. (85 minutes)
BY TOM MEEK
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