Nine hundred years after his death, the visionary, wizard, saint and poet Milarepa remains Tibet’s greatest mystic. Yet his youthful rage and black magic brought death and destruction upon his own family. This is his story – a tale of revenge, demons, murder, and redemption.
Milarepa depicts the humble beginnings of the man who was to become Tibet’s greatest saint. A true story based on centuries-old oral traditions, a youthful Milarepa is propelled into a world of sorrow and betrayal after his father’s sudden death. Destitute and hopeless, he sets out to learn black magic and exact revenge on his enemies, encountering magicians, demons, an enigmatic teacher and unexpected mystical powers along the way. But it is in confrontation with the consequences of his anger that he learns the most.
Milarepa was filmed on location in the spectacular Spiti Valley on the Tibet-India border and produced with a crew of 50 Buddhist monks from Pema Ewam Chogar Gyurme Ling Monastery. The story offers a provocative parallel to the cycle of violence and retribution consuming today’s world.