Well, the DW Channels YouTube continues to be an excellent source for documentaries so far, knock on wood. This documentary is The Forgotten Temple of Banteay Chhmar and the run time is 42:26.
Banteay Chhmar is a temple complex that dates back to the Khmer Empire. This temple is far from the tourist trails and is hidden deep in the Cambodian jungle. The rice farmers are working to preserve and restore this temple with nothing but their own hands. It remains a sacred place to the villagers. Time has taken a toll on this temple. Sreymon and Sopeng are two people who are working on this project. They are members of the village temple and they are working on getting the temple restored. Slowly but surely trees that surround the Banteay Chhmar temple are slowly being cleared from the temple complex. The documentary starts off with a gathering of monks who have gathered for a prayer session. The prayers are relayed through loudspeakers across the village. There are a few thousand villagers in this city and at one time there were no paved roads. Sreymon and Sopeng created a lovely traditional wooden house. There is electricity but no running water. They are farmers and their parents assist them on the farm. Farming is the main source of income for the family. Very few visitors know about this world and the temple. The villagers do not want to become a tourist attraction like Angkor Wat. However, the villagers are careful to take care of the temple complex. The village council meets once a week to discuss the restoration work of the temple. They also arrange English classes for the children and arrange guest accommodation. They are also planning who to send to take part in the water festival. There is an amusing discussion on the boat races and the lack of rivers in the area. The Banteay Chhmar temple complex was one of five temple complexes during the Khmer Empire era. There was a library, meditation areas, and four moats surrounding it. The tower of faces looks over the complex. This tower has four faces on it and each face shows a different state of mind. I would have appreciated more details about the history of the temple complex in this section because it then switched to a discussion on the boat races. Finally, there is a discussion on the temple and the restoration. Here there is a narration on the Khmer Rouge and how a lot of temples were looted or destroyed. The villagers found and restored a statue that had been thrown into the moat. There were carvings that were also restored and these show the boat races. The tour of the temple continues in this section as well. Even the people restoring the temple find something new in the temple. A Khmer King built this temple. It was to be a second seat of power for the King. It was a religious center for both Buddhists and Hindus. The back of the temple is being restored. The villagers are carefully rebuilding a wall. The wall has images on them, so it is a giant jigsaw puzzle to put together. The villagers came together with experts. Computer models were generated to help with the rebuild and restoration. It will take decades to rebuild this wall. This restoration is a source of pride for the villagers. Normally restorations are underdone by foreigners and it is the first time that Cambodians themselves are undertaking the restoration tasks. The goal is to secure the structure to prevent further decay and to conserve what they can. It is a fascinating project that the villagers have undertaken. I did not know what to expect when it came to this documentary. I was expecting more of a discussion on the restoration progress and not the preparation for the boat races. The description of the villagers restoring the temple by the sweat of their brows was very deceptive because I felt like the focus was on daily life and not the temple itself. Although it was very well done, this documentary had so much wasted potential. The filmmakers really should have stuck with focusing on the temple restoration and the history of the Khmer Empire era. I would not show this documentary to a classroom.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |