Monk with a Camera

“Monk with a Camera” follows the unforgettable transformation of Nicholas Vreeland, from dandy American photographer to devout Tibetan Buddhist monk. What made him take this giant leap of faith? His friends, family, the Dalai Lama, Hollywood heartthrob-Buddhist Richard Gere and Vreeland himself put the pieces of the puzzle together in an engaging 90-minute documentary that follows Vreeland all the way from a privileged childhood in Europe, North Africa and America to his emergence as the Abbott of the Rato Dratsang, an important Tibetan Government monastery tucked away in the south Indian state of Karnataka.
Turning the clock back: On the face of it Vreeland had everything a young man could aspire to -- an impressive lineage with the legendary 'Vogue' fashion editor Diana Vreeland as his grandmother, fast cars, an impeccable wardrobe and high-profile girlfriends. He seemed to have it made as a photographer too, with famous Irving Penn and Richard Avedon as mentors. But somewhere there was a vacuum. He took to meditation and shaved his head to “cleanse” himself.
But it was a series of events that led him to where he is today. In 1977 he met Khyongla Rato Rinpoche, founder of The Tibet Center, the oldest Tibetan Buddhist Center in New York.  That meeting was to change his life forever. Meanwhile, his precious cameras were stolen when his apartment was broken into but that too proved fortuitous as it enabled him to study Buddhism for many years. He became a monk in 1985 and was sent by the Dalai Lama to a Tibetan refugee settlement across the Indian border.
While he agonised on whether he should give way to his “attachment” for his camera, it proved his lifeline when it helped his fellow monks to expand their monastery as streams of Buddhist monks poured in to join the order. He travelled around the world selling his images so that he could raise money for the new monastery.  His devotion to the Buddhist faith has won him recognition from the Dalai Lama, who appointed him the Abbot of the Rato Monastery.
While the viewer's attention does flag at times, some of his life events reconstructed in the film are memorable -- the tonsure ceremony where the last strand of hair is snipped, his decision to take the vow of celibacy, his parents'  divorce that affected him deeply, a visit to Canada to see his mother before she succumbed to cancer, his proud father and stepmother's visit to the monastery, his recognition of the transience of a life that must protect even a humble ant from being crushed under callous feet. Even a humorous touch is thrown in by way of the animation of some of his journeys around the world.
To directors Tina Mascara and Guido Santi goes the credit of fleshing out the unforgettable character of Vreeland who now forges ahead. Today he is the ghost writer of some of the Dalai Lama's books and divides his time between Tibet Center and Rato Dratsang in India. And he continues to click away with his camera --all for a cause.