Honor and Illusion - Peter Brook's "Mahabharata"

Having grown up in India, the stories from the ancientfactions at Kurukshetra begins with the armies
Sanskrit epic, The Mahabharata, are a critical part ofconfronting each other on the battlefield and
my cultural heritage. Immersed in its folklore from aestablishing the ground-rules for war in accordance
very young age, the themes, characters and situationswith the principles of Dharma, i.e. honor, duty and ethics.
from the epic poem are as familiar to me as, perhaps,This event echoes such modern-day treaties as the
the myths and fables of the Homeric tradition wouldTreaty of Versailles and the Geneva Conventions,
be to a child growing up in the Western world.which establish what qualifies as acceptable conduct
But, to be honest with you, it wasn't until I viewed theduring wartime, as opposed to what qualifies as a war
expanded, 5 hour film version of the epic directed bycrime or a violation of human rights.
the acclaimed British stage and film personality, PeterAs the two armies are about to charge into war,
Brook, renowned internationally for his brilliantArjuna, the elite Pandava archer and swordsman,
productions of The Lord of the Flies based on thesuddenly loses confidence and collapses to his knees.
novel by William Golding and of Shakespeare's KingUnable to bring himself to do battle with his own kinfolk
Lear, that I gained a renewed appreciation for the trueand mentors, he confesses his fears to Krishna, his
genius behind the Sanskrit literary work.closest friend, confidante and charioteer. This is
Filmed in lushly evocative sepia tones, with anfollowed by one of the best known sequences in the
international cast of highly talented players, the film isepic, the Bhagavadgita, wherein Krishna gives Arjuna
truly refreshing and eye-opening in its interpretation andan extended motivational pep talk, which essentially
rendition of the archaic Vedic Indian culture from whichsummarizes the core concepts of the Hindu philosophy
the epic stems. Brutally honest and resonant in itsof the Vedic Age in India. Possibly the reason this
imagery, the film truly captures the zeitgeist of Vedicsequence is so well known is that it was first
India, marked by its factional, territorial power strugglesdramatized on film in the Rudolph Valentino film, The
and its lofty, arcane philosophical ideas. All told, the filmYoung Rajah, in which Valentino's character, Amos
is a powerfully nihilistic, apocalyptic vision that isJudd, claims descent from Arjuna. The central theme in
profoundly relevant to our present day 21st CenturyKrishna's discourse to Arjuna is that all of humanity is
world. Like the Homeric myths, it stands the test of"born into illusion" and that illusion is all-pervasive in our
time and reveals itself to be a profoundly modern,all-too-brief lives. Therefore, in order to seek truth, one
relevant literary work.must achieve a form of stoic detachment in one's
Believed to have been composed around 3000 yearsattitude and actions. These ideas are strikingly
ago by the poet Vyasa, the plot centers around theresonant of Buddhism, which developed much later in
factional struggles of the rival clans, the Pandava andancient India, though without the Buddhist emphasis on
the Kaurava. It details the years of factional strifepacifism and non-violence. As such, Krishna's ideology
between the clans, culminating in the devastating waris, contextually, a profoundly martial ethic.
of Kurukshetra. Though the story is told in theMotivated and ready to launch into battle, Arjuna
elevated, hyperbolic, metaphorical style of epic andsignals his attack, and the war proceeds. What ensues
myth, historians and scholars of ancient Sanskritis a tragic recountal of the horrors of war, made all the
literature believe that the war was actually fought inmore moving and profound by its emphasis on the
northern India between 1000 - 800 B.C.E. between rivalhuman dimension of the conflict and on the kinship ties
factions of the Kuru clan.of the primary players. Every value of Dharma that
The main themes of the work are the importance ofthe culture holds dear-every value of honor, duty and
Dharma, the Hindu concept of honor, duty, ethics andethical conduct-is brutally violated and overturned in the
morality, along with its associations with social order;course of warfare, so much so that at one stage,
and the deceptive, illusory and transitory nature ofYudhishthira, the leader of the Pandava clan, wonders
reality as we experience it. It skillfully weaves mythical,out loud whether they are actually defending the ideals
historical and folklore elements into a vivid tapestry thatof Dharma through their actions in the course of the
forces one to challenge one's assumptions andwar. This theme is, again, profoundly resonant and
prejudices and, indeed, to question the nature of therelevant to modern times, echoing the ethical
very fabric of reality itself. What echoes through mychallenges we face during the course of the recent
mind while viewing the film is the following quote fromU.S. military incursions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
Albert Einstein:whether the ends justify the means in the course of
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistentwarfare or anything else, for that matter.
one.and one wonders whether Einstein was in anyThe Pandava clan emerges victorious from the war,
way influenced by Sanskrit literature or thebut the film retains its bleak, nihilistic, apocalyptic vision in
Mahabharata in his revolutionary thinking. Indeed, it is aits recountal of the ultimate demise of each of the
fact that J. Robert Oppenheimer, the supervisingcore characters. This culminates with the honor-bound,
scientist of the Manhattan project, cited thedutiful Yudhishthira finally arriving at the gates of
Mahabharata upon the first successful test of theParadise in his old age, after all his brothers and
atomic bomb, which underscores the profoundlyDraupadi, their collective wife, have fallen into the
modern and apocalyptic vision of the work.abyss. What follows is the final dénouement in
The main plot begins, like many a James Bond novel,the story, which I will not reveal, but which, in effect,
with a high stakes gambling match-a game of dice. Inturns the entire story on its head and challenges one to
the course of the match, the Pandava clan lose all theirquestion all one's preconceptions in life. In essence, it
possessions, including their own liberty, to the scheming,stunningly underscores and emphasizes the dual
devious Kaurava, and are ultimately forced into anthemes of personal honor, integrity and morality
extended exile in the wilderness. The image is(Dharma) versus the transitory, illusory nature of the
profoundly resonant with current events, as seen inworld and of reality.
recent election results in Iran and Afghanistan, whichThe film is brilliantly and powerfully directed by Peter
many believe to have been rigged or contrived. ThisBrook and adapted for stage and screen by Peter
event turns out to be a critical turning point in the story,Brook, Jean-Claude Carriere and Marie-Helene
as it marks the point where a friendly rivalry betweenEstienne. It features some truly breathtaking and
the clans devolves into a bitter, divisive enmity.profoundly moving performances by the international
The next thirteen years recount something of a coldcast of players including Georges Corraface as
war and arms race between the clans, as each sideDuryodhana, the villainous, but ultimately sympathetic
forges alliances and acquires so-called "sacredleader of the Kaurava clan; Vittorio Mezzogiorno as
weapons" in the relentless buildup towards theArjuna, the elite warrior of the Pandava clan; Bruce
apocalyptic final confrontation at Kurukshetra. Again,Myers as Krishna, Arjuna's friend, confidante and
the work reveals itself to be profoundly modern andspiritual guide; Jeffrey Kissoon as Karna, the estranged
relevant when, in one haunting sequence, Arjuna, theeldest Pandava brother and friend of Duryodhana;
elite warrior of the Pandava clan, confronts the HinduAndrzej Seweryn as Yudhishthira, the head of the
deity Shiva and asks him for the secret ofPandava clan; Mamadou Dioume as Bhima, the
Pasupata-"the ultimate weapon that can destroy thePandava strongman, and Mallika Sarabhai as the
world." It is chillingly evocative of the modern quest forprincess Draupadi, the wife of the Pandava brothers.
superiority in nuclear arms in the course of the ColdThe soundtrack is richly evocative of a distant, bygone
War and beyond and, perhaps, is one of the themesera, with resounding instrumentals interspersed with
evoked by Oppenheimer in his famous allusion to theperiods of deafening silence. The subtlety in the richly
epic. Even as Arjuna acquires the doomsday weapontextured imagery of the film, along with its superbly
from Shiva, Karna, his rival in the Kaurava clan, setschoreographed action sequences and innovative set
off to acquire it for himself as well, which he does bydesign, make the film almost hypnotically memorable.
deceiving a hermit into revealing to him the "secretIts dreamlike, mythic quality is accentuated by its use
formula" of Pasupata-again, echoing Einstein'sof sound, imagery and sepia-drenched color, at the
groundbreaking mass-energy equivalence equation,hands of a truly original auteur of contemporary stage
which was the harbinger of the atomic and nuclearand film. All in all, this film is a truly moving and
age.memorable viewing experience and I highly
The final apocalyptic confrontation between the tworecommend it to everyone.