Act Normal (2006) User Reviews

A fascinating film

[pauwels-pau · 9/10 · 18 September 2006]

I started looking at the film Act Normal in a rather gloomy mood. I was tired en did not know what to expect. I was a bit worried also that I might not like the film. So I started looking at it in a rather skeptical state of mind. The beginning is not an easy one, but it took me just a few seconds to get in the story and into the mood. From there onward the film has really touched me and has continually moved me. The music is wonderful. The film felt like a warm embrace to me, it made me calm and feel good. It's soft like a woman's kiss, it's like an ointment for the hurt soul. The structure jumps back and forth, but makes sense.

What is more important: after having seen the trailer so many times I did not know what to think of the main character. Was he honest or was he pulling our leg? After having seen the film I really like the man: I feel his uncertainty and I am convinced he's a 100 % pure and honest. That's the biggest achievement of this film for me... you managed to bring me into the soul of a fascinating person. I now understand his feelings and deeds. Not an easy thing to do, and the filmmakers did just that. By the way... I love the reconstructions and the dream/hope sequences with the astronaut. Great cinema.

The only remark I would make is that I have the impression that there are too many endings. However, by the end of the film I was under time pressure and maybe that's why I got this impression. This is not traditional editing in the film, but it's contemporary editing that functions very well.

A fascinating film.

Looking for the love in yourself

[desflores · 8/10 · 17 September 2006]

The documentary Act Normal is not your usual cup of tea. It is true what the filmmakers say that it is about a monk who disrobes and gets married and that it is filmed for ten years. It is though clear that the filmmakers were not always around for these 10 years, but it does not compromise the story. Some dramatic license is taken when recreating the Monk's childhood, but it serves the film well.

The DVD copy I purchased was the "director's cut" so I'm not sure how different the film is from it's original but this version is perhaps a tad too long. It's about 82 minutes but not really slow paced. I don't feel we get deep enough into the character of the monk, but still, maybe it's just the person he really is. In the first half of the film, before marriage Robert (I think that's his real name) is naive and his laughter almost freaked me out. But after marriage, and after his divorce he seems more at ease.

The filmmakers state that this is a "Monk looking for love" but I don't fully agree - It seems that this man is looking for love, but doesn't realize that he has already found it in himself. It might be up to personal interpretation.

Anyway, I'd also like to mention two things about the film, according to it's credits, the music is done by "Bardi Johannsson" and that is what completes it. The music is simply amazing, also (which is kind a funny) we can see how the Cameraman of the film (Santos) develops from OK to great in his filming maturity over the 10 years the film is shot. The film also suffers for it, but it kind helps it as well, as the Monk is maturing, the cameraman is maturing.

Overall, a fine documentary, what makes it is the story and the persistence (or luck?) of the filmmakers of having the opportunity to film this "love" story.

True monks are not made, they are born.

[aigerimaltaikanova · 8/10 · 7 April 2019]

The movie "Act Normal" directed by Olaf de Fleur Johannesson, narrates a story of a monk - Robert T. Edison. The life story includes time periods when the monk decided to join and stay in Tibet monastery, moments he choose to disrobe, get married, then divorce and return back to monkhood. The movie was released on October first, the year of 2006, after ten years of production. Personally, to me, the movie gave a very strong impression of not a simple documentary, but of a very personal story and revelation of thoughts that cannot be shared during a natural conversation. I believe this was the aim of the director, to awake deepest feelings of viewers, through close-ups of Robert, his eyes at the moments he shares his thoughts on some personal issues such as love, sex, desire, and happiness. The movie causes to think about the reason to become a monk, to join the Sangha, and about how to determine whether you are suitable for monkshood and can follow all the Discipline properly? In my perception, to become a monk, the monkhood should be "inside" of you, you must have a natural predisposition for that. To start with, the early life hobbies and interests are the ones that show the natural personality of the man. Childhood interests are one of the main determinants of true passion that person may have. Just as when individuals are young they are tasting this world and things they choose usually become the fundamental parts of their lives. On the example of the main character of the "Act Normal" movie, it is easy to see that his early curiosity in Buddhism became a ground for his decision to become a monk and devote his life to Sangha. Though, there is a disclaimer, potentially: this early interest may become a matter of habit, rather than independent choice. However, simply following the routine and allowing it to determine the future is not an option and, thus, it is possible but highly unlikely. To become a monk, the one should be able to detach itself from the world, but that is not an easy thing to do. The one should have such a feature in their character. In other words, the ability to detach should be not a forced action but an aspect of personality, so that it is again natural. Turning back to the examples from the movie, as Robert himself admits, he enjoyed being alone since his childhood, this links back to the argument about childhood preferences. This fact means that the character instinctively aimed to get isolated, physically and emotionally, and fact that he did that since his early age, means that his personality made him do so. The way, ex-wife of the main character describes him, tells a lot about his personality too: "...too centered [...] avoiding too much interaction with people...". Thus, it can be emphasized that he has a tendency to become a monk and consequently becomes a monk, partially owing to his introverted personality. Moreover, after joining the Sangha, the individual should leave the common society and be able to live an isolated life. Therefore, it is important that separation from society should be comfortable for the one, who wants to become a monk. Otherwise, it may be a very hard and painful experience. The main character of the movie is clearly depicted as an introvert, thus he clearly prefers being alone rather than in society. He also admits enjoying moments he is unnoticed. In this way, his preferences and personality helped him to fit into the requirements of the monkhood. This is different from ability to detach, because: ability does not mean want, so that one can be able to detach easily but do not want to. Therefore, presence of both characteristics is important. One's childhood interests, their personality traits and individual perception of the society - things that make them the person they are, should fit into the monks' disciplinary requirements, so the one is destined to be a monk. You should be a monk by your spirit before you decide to become one in life, you should be predisposed for that. I do recommend watching this movie to ones, who are lost in their decisions. Because, it shows how to find yourself and how to understand what is suitable for you - shortly: through the method of trial and error. That, to identify and bring to the surface your true personality, through trying and tasting the world and new experiences. To return back to original "you" just as Robert T. Edison has done.

of interest to a broad audience...

[stefan-174 · 10/10 · 17 September 2006]

i saw an early cut of this film and was very impressed. it spans many years, and thereby gives one a real sense of the evolution one man's relationship to religion, life, women, etc. though not a Buddhist, i found the issues raised and discussed of great interest. in this sense the film appeals to universal interests - our struggle to understand ourselves, our universe and our relationships. like most good films it has some very funny and also poignant moments. the premise alone is excellent: a British man moves to Iceland and becomes one of the few Buddhist monks. when his faith falters, and he is tempted away by a woman, we have great cinema in the making. his return to the faith, of course, gives the story a wonderful arc. given the growing interest in Buddhism in western cultures, i think this film will (and should) do very well. see it!

Good documenatry with poor screenwrite

[aisultanzhumabek · 8/10 · 31 March 2018]

As every documentary film, this product of Olaf de Fleur should not be assessed from the perspectives of quality of shooting and montage. However, in this case, it really disturbs. In my assumption, due to the limited budget from the small community called Icelandic Film Centre, the producer was inside the very limited capabilities. Spontaneous interviews with the middle preparation of interviewer and annoying surroundings make the watching a little bit uncomfortable. Furthermore, the decision of screenwriter to add as many flashbacks and return-backs as possible was not successful - the audience (particularly, myself) was tasked to understand the plot, which was complicated with many supplementary episodes. This disadvantage is especially noticeable during the episodes with his childhood and short marriage. However, almost all quality issues could be compensated by the soundtracks. Soft music, which perfectly accompanies with the film, gives some kind of sensitivity among the viewer and character. Another disadvantage is based on my personal view towards the documentaries about certain persons. In my opinion, this kind of films should show not only the person itself but also personal thoughts and relation of close people. The main reason is that on the genesis of both interviews of main person and people, who surround him, we could build an as much objective picture of personality as possible. In the case of "Act Normal" (2006), the director decided to give almost entire focus on the main character, if we will not consider the interview with his ex-wife from Kazakhstan. Therefore, this film seemed to me as something like a dialog with the main character in the café and with the cup of tea. However, the director did well his main job - discovering of character. As I mentioned before, the entire film gave the feeling of warm conversation with Robert, where you are getting closer and closer to his closed inner world. The world of man, who is from the simple middle-class family from England with complexes and big love towards books and animals. During the film, you probably start to express some sympathy to him due to his heartfulness and honesty, which are impossible not to see the responses. Personally, I have got some answers to the questions, which are widely spread among the people, who have a certain amount of interest towards Buddhism. And this documentary has two main schticks, as almost every Buddhist film, which I have ever seen: some terms and facts about Buddhism, which give certain perception about it, and scenes with nudes. I think that these two extremes become an inalienable attribute of this genre because it shows the importance of monkhood life in the context of modern-day society, which is full of desire and lust. As a conclusion, despite evident poor job with shooting and montage, this film could be considered as a bright pathway towards the consciousness of one man. Therefore, if you want to dedicate your time to the good documentary, this film is for you.

the life of lay person is hard to adjust to

[danagabitova-93119 · 9/10 · 1 April 2018]

The 2006 Icelandic movie "Act normal" directed by Olaf de Fleur tells the story about a British person, Robert T. Edison, and how his views changed over time. He is a Buddhist monk that experienced being a monk, being led by the desire, disrobed, married, divorced and realized real values. He again became a monk. The movie was filmed starting from 1994 till 2006, for more than ten years. Such kind of format is very easy to accept, since everything is in order and accompanied with the interviews. Also there were videos from childhood, which helped me to feel the atmosphere of the movie. As the background sound, producer used the voice of the main character as the storyteller, than the music. Since, Robert T. Edison told his story not in a very serious way, but sometimes with jokes and always laughed and smiled, this documentary seemed to be interesting. However, when there were moments from his live that were not accompanied with any additional sound, they were quite boring in terms of not important parts. He talks about how he was treated by Thai people in Thailand and Iceland. In both cases he felt himself popular. Thai people perceive west as The Great West and paradise, therefore they really appreciate western monks. Or maybe, it is because they appreciate that Western people showed interest in Buddhism, non-Western religion. Or it is just unusual thing, and people are surprised. In this movie, death and rebirth are discussed several times. He tells that the next rebirth is according to your state of mind at the moment of death. Therefore if people commit a suicide, their state of mind is suicidal. In this way he heads to that people, who killed themselves, will be reborn in a bad conditions. Also he tells that almost all Buddhist temples has cats. Then he tells the story of his cat when he does not kill the mouse, but just chased. He joked that Buddhist cat does not kill mouse. Monks are dependent on layman, lay people. Starting from the beginning of the movie, they showed how monks collect alms from people, since they do not earn any money. Then Robert again points out the dependence and its meaningfulness in Buddhism. It was very surprising to hear that the main character always wanted to visit center of Russian space program in Baikonur. He went to Karaganda, Kazakhstan, which was critical point in his life. He met a woman, whom he wanted to be with and realized that needs to marry her. Although central teaching in Buddhism is impermanence and love is a subject to impermanence. Love is very little significance in searching for partner. He jokes that how he knows about love, if he is a monk. He was attracted by marriage, and realized he does not grow up enough during being a monk. It is hard to be in marriage after being a monk. The main character Robert experienced many situations and prioritized main things in his life. He realized that the life of lay person is hard to adjust to, and again became a monk.

Beyond the normal life: a unique and calming story

[ajantemirova · 9/10 · 1 April 2018]

"Act Normal" is a documentary produced in 2006 by Icelandic producer and director Olaf de Fleur. It was filmed between 1994 and 2006 and it shows the story of the first Icelandic monk, Robert Edison, who disrobed and became monk once again after his marriage and divorce. This documentary is wholly centralized on Robert T. Edison and his unique story as a Buddhist monk. As the majority of the interviews is given by Robert himself, it seems to me that it helps to concentrate more on the character, his feelings, and his personal development, and does not distract from important moments. However, this distraction happened during watching this documentary, when there was one additional interview that was taken from his ex-wife. Personally, I believe that the interview with his ex-wife is of no importance and is an extra part of this documentary, that can be excluded. Despite this opinion, the presence of this love story resembles the title of the film "Act Normal", because when he returns to a life of an ordinary man he acts the way that is believed to be "normal" and marries a woman he met in Kazakhstan. Furthermore, his comeback to a normal life as an ordinary person plays an important part in this documentary, because it displays what kind of benefits, difficulties or unusual things he experienced as a "normal" man after a long stay in the rank of the monk and how he did overcome these problems. Sometimes in the movie, the video material is not provided in chronological order, so it can confuse the audience, that is why in such cases it is better to concentrate on the audio of the interview rather than on the video fragments incorporated in the movie. In my opinion, it is better to follow the timeline in the documentary in order to represent his story to the audience better. One of the best parts of this documentary film is that it shows the life of Buddhist monks very well. Viewers who are already familiar with Buddhism may notice how Robert follows Vinaya Pitaka, meditates, chants, discusses the doctrine of anatma and follows the Eightfold path as a whole. The audience can also notice the importance of laymen in Buddhism, as the film often shows the moments when laity people share some things with Robert, and he himself told a story how he was dependent on the good nature of laity when they offered him food. Through the whole documentary, audience is accompanied with good music that perfectly suits the documentary. The choice of the music also plays an important part in the production of the movie, because it sets up the atmosphere for the audience, so they could dive into the movie better. To my mind, the director could achieve this goal well. On the whole, I think that this documentary is an extraordinary story that represents the difficulties and challenges of Western man becoming and being a monk. Apart from the Buddhist concepts and notions, an ordinary viewer can learn a lesson that being and acting "normal" sometimes is not what a person needs. It is better to follow the unique path that will make you feel happy rather than stick to the universal concept of normal life prescribed by the society.

Ignore the quality and enjoy every part of the film

[aigerimduisembay · 7/10 · 1 April 2018]

Act Normal (2006) is a move directed by Olaf de Fleur showcasing the story of life of Robert T. Edison who at his age of 18 decided to become a monk. Robert was born in Leeds in Yorkshire, north of England, and grew up in a family of middle-class English parents. Having gathered small amount of money for the flight tickets, he moved from Britain to Thailand in the search of Buddhist teachings. However, after approximately a 10-year period he decides to disrobe and get married to a Russian girl from Kazakhstan. This is the time when he completely alters his lifestyle and priorities in life.

It can be immediately noticed from the opening scene that the producer will touch upon various topics concerning Buddhism as a whole. One of the most significant topics discussed in the movie is the monkshood and sangha. The producer tries to convey the actual lifestyle of the Buddhist monks in modern life through the collection of interviews taken from Robert who talks about the everyday obligations and routine in the sangha. In addition, the producer depicts the role of Buddhist sangha in the society especially thought showcasing food donation process and its significance both for the population and the monks. Other direct Buddhist contexts shown in the movie are core Buddhist concepts such as suffering, the Noble Truths, Dharma, Buddha, anatman (no sole) and topics of attachment and love. The protagonist shows a deep understanding of all these concepts and hence is able to share his knowledge and experience. Hence, it can be claimed that the documentary movie would be most impressive and beneficial for the individuals about to become the Buddhist monks.

The main advantage of the documentary film is that it contains and demonstrates almost complete picture of the protagonist, monk Robert. The film is focused only on one topic: the life of an English monk. It gives a chance for the watching people to feel the main hero's feelings and may make them as much sympathetic as possible (probably there are still exceptional cases). The second side of the coin is redundancy of flashbacks throughout the whole movie. Return-Backs were not a successful idea for it is highly uncomfortable for the audience to construct right order of chronology and ultimately the complete plot of the movie. Although the interviews are accompanied with the information on the year they were taken, it would be better to keep everything in order or to reduce the number of flashbacks. Despite this disadvantage, the main idea still remains clear and the audience may easily make conclusions for themselves.

Even though documentary films are not supposed to be criticized according to quality criterion, it is worth to mention that, in this particular movie, low quality played a significant role in understanding the movie as a whole. To be precise, the quality of montage and the shooting process itself makes it quite uncomfortable for the audience to focus only on the protagonist. Moreover, in some parts of the movie it seems that both interviewee and interviewer are not well-prepared, which may show a quite unprofessional approach to the movie. Nevertheless, low quality of the film may still be justifiable taking into account small experience and probably restricted financial opportunities of Icelandic Film Centre, established only 3 years before shooting the documentary film.

To conclude, Act Normal (2006) by Olaf de Fleur depicts both privileges and hardships of Buddhist monk life in the modern society. Not only it lets audience to get acquainted with Robert T. Edison, his life and his feelings, it also provides thought-provoking information about main Buddhist concerns and concepts. The movie would especially be recommended to watch for those who want to get involved in monkhood community.

Recap, and insight into why this is a bad documentary.

[Ditrapped · 3/10 · 2 June 2010]

all over bad movie, the story is far from cohesive, it spans 12 years, seems like the documentary crew spent a day a year with him. in order to say it goes back 12 years, as listed in summary it says he left the buddhist order for 4 years when he met a girl and got married, that part in the movie is about 30 sec's long, seems like the documentary people forgot about him for 4 years while this was happening.

its an hour with him as a monk in thailand, 15 min him as a monk in iceland, then a brief recap of him married, where they interview his ex wife, (all the while not showing her speak instead opting to show her playing with leaves of a tree while she narrates the relationship) for filler when they clearly lacked footage they showed a boy playing chess with a man in a spacesuit, which was suppose to represent him as a child, cause he mentioned liking chess as a kid instead of sports, and later he mentioned he liked the Russian space program and that it was a dream of his to go to the launch site. that surreal scene was, well, lame.

I give this 3 stars simply for the monk speaking about buddhism, offering valuable insight into buddhist study.

i recommend people check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814005/ The Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, instead of this, which is by the same people that made this, a far better documentary.

"Everything that arises must pass away"

[madinajumagulova · 7 April 2019]

"Act Normal" is the 2006 documentary movie produced by Icelandic director Olaf de Fleur which shows the religious path of ups and downs of a British monk named Robert T. Edison, who decides to abandon his homeland to practice Buddhism in Thailand and Iceland, becoming a first Buddhist monk ever to be in Iceland. But later Robert faces a turning point of his life by marrying to a woman, stopping his monkhood, going through a divorce and then coming back to Buddhism again. The film through a story of Robert tries to explain the most significant pillar of Buddhism - impermanence of everything. To show how important that is, the movie focuses on critical moments of Robert's life such as dissatisfaction with life choices he made and his marriage, divorce and a following understanding and redefining of Buddhist main ideas. Also, "Act Normal" is very good at letting the audience to have a peek on what is the Buddhist monk life is and could be a nice attempt to challenge a viewers' stereotypes about Buddhism by illustrating a daily life of a monk and cleverly demonstrating that monks are not saints but common people with common problems. The documentary was filmed in the period between 1994 and 2006, depicting different moments in Robert's life but does it non-linear way by showing each period rather randomly then chronologically which could at first confuse the audience but personally I would say that it does a good job in building the right environment to perceive Robert's experience and how he went through different periods in his life, this kind of cinematography resembles a chain of distinct memories in a way that memories often come chaotically rather than systematically. One of the such memories to begin with is how Robert became a monk, he immediately confronts an idea that people who choose to become a monk are in fear of responsibility in life and therefore escape in religion, he suggests that picking such way of living only challenges you, because you are obliged to completely change the lifestyle and live in the scarce of any luxury and, moreover, strive to have an open and pure mind. One of the few prohibitions of Buddhist monks, as for the most clerics, is full abandonment of any sexual activity and the movie focuses on this part of Robert's life, particularly on how he searched answers for what does love mean. His attempts and efforts on that matter brought him to the crucial point - he fell in love with a woman and decided to marry her which led to a bigger occasion, to quit Buddhism. From Robert's perspective this was not a spontaneous decision, in my opinion, the film showed that there was a premise for this to happen. Some moments before, Robert had an emotional crisis provoked by his disappointment of life and the choices he made, especially a choice to become a monk. At that moment of the film, when Robert get married and started a regular non-cleric life, happens the most important revelations on Robert's head, he started to grasp the meaning of impermanence. Despite the fact that the new life for Robert was a challenge to all the habits he has been getting used to it was a bigger challenge for his mind and mentality. Eventually his marriage breaks apart leaving a huge hole in his body which he unsuccessfully tried to fill by womanizing. From this moment it can be seen how lost Robert was, he tries to live a regular life but only comes to one conclusion, this kind of life is not for him, therefore, deciding to become a monk again but with more comprehension and clearness in his head. Living a regular family life for less than a year or in other words, acting normal, pushes him to gain his own opinion on what love is, which he simply describes by saying that love and infatuation are similar but in a different degree, thus, summing up with love being overrated. The whole experience Robert has been going through causes him to reconsider his values and finally leads him to come back to Buddhism again. As he moved to Thailand and proceeded to practice his monkhood, Robert says the vital point of this movie: "Everything that arises must pass away", implying that the feeling of permanence makes people unhappy and forces them to suffer, but the understanding of impermanence frees your mind and body. To sum up, "Act Normal" serves as a great example to carefully explore a world of a simple Buddhist monk, the problems they face on a daily basis and how they challenge them. Nonetheless, it is important to mention how this movie could change a common perspective of clerics, especially Buddhist monks and the way they perceived. Also, the film thoroughly explains different Buddhist practices and analyzes some of the most important pillars in Buddhism.