Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019)
Bhutan does not have a long history as a film-producing nation. For much of the twentieth century it was closed to outside visitors entirely, and even after cautiously opening its borders in the 1970s it remained one of the least-filmed countries on the planet. That cultural insularity, combined with a government philosophy built around Gross National Happiness rather than GDP, gives the country an almost mythological quality in the Western imagination, and it is that quality which writer-director Pawo Choyning Dorji leans into for his debut feature. Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is set in and around the Lunana district of northern Bhutan, a high-altitude region of the Himalayas where villages sit so far above the treeline that a supply run to the nearest town takes several days on foot. The film drew on Dorji's own curiosity about what life in such places actually looks like day to day, as distinct from the romanticised image sold to tourists. It became the first Bhutanese film ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, for the 94th ceremony in 2022, a fact that says something both about the film's quiet achievement and about how rarely the country had put anything before international audiences before.
Dorji came to the project without a conventional film school background, having worked previously in photography and documentary, and that eye for landscape and light is visible throughout. The production was a genuinely modest affair, made with a small crew that had to physically carry equipment into villages with no road access. Huanxi Media, the Chinese co-production partner, brought the resources to give the project a professional finish, but Lunana never feels like a studio product. It sits more comfortably alongside something like The Next Guardian (2017), the documentary following a young Bhutanese monk, in its quiet, observational approach to a country most audiences will never visit. The film is in Dzongkha, the national language of Bhutan, and the supporting cast is drawn almost entirely from non-professional actors, including local schoolchildren and village residents who essentially played versions of themselves. That choice gives the film a texture that polished but unremarkable international dramas often lack, even if it also means the performances are occasionally uneven. The two principal professionals are Sherab Dorji as Ugyen, the reluctant young teacher at the centre of the story, and Ugyen Norbu Lhendup as his guide and travelling companion, with Pem Zam and Keldon Lhamo Gurung providing warm, assured support in the village itself. Sherab Dorji in particular carries a considerable amount of screen time on his own, and the film's emotional credibility rests largely on whether you believe his gradual, grudging shift in attitude. For a film operating with this kind of budget and this kind of casting process, the overall quality of performance on screen is a minor achievement in itself.
It is worth noting that Lunana sits in interesting company among 2019's world cinema releases. Films like La Llorona (2019) and America (2019) were finding international audiences that year by taking formally adventurous approaches to national identity and folklore. Dorji's film takes a considerably gentler path, choosing warmth and accessibility over formal experimentation, which is a legitimate creative decision even if it invites a certain kind of criticism.
The idea of being exiled to the middle of nowhere usually sounds like a nightmare, but Pawo Choyning Dorji’s 2019 feature Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom makes a remarkably compelling case for it.
The film follows Ugyen (played with charming, sullen reluctance by Sherab Dorji), a young Bhutanese teacher whose sole ambition is to pack his bags and move to Australia. Instead, the government assigns him to a teaching placement in Lunana, a village so isolated it’s frequently cited as the most remote school in the world. It’s a classic fish-out-of-water setup, but the sheer logistical madness of his arduous journey up the Himalayas immediately hooks you.
What really sells the picture, however, is just how absolutely cracking Bhutan looks on screen. Dorji and his cinematographer capture the rugged, snow-capped majesty of the region with a stunning, almost reverent clarity. The sweeping landscapes and the quiet, rustic beauty of the village provide a breathtaking backdrop that does a lot of the heavy lifting. You can’t help but feel a pang of envy for the sheer, unspoiled tranquillity of the place, even as Ugyen shivers through his initial, deeply begrudging acclimation to a life without electricity or modern comforts.
Narrative-wise, I have to admit the film plays things incredibly safe. It’s a touching coming-of-age drama, certainly, but it doesn't really offer anything we haven't seen before in the "disillusioned city slicker learns to love the simple life" genre. The story beats are highly predictable, marching steadily toward an inevitable, heartwarming realisation that true happiness isn't necessarily found in a foreign metropolis. While the interactions between Ugyen and the local children are genuinely sweet, the script rarely surprises you, opting for comfort and charm over any real narrative risk or unique thematic depth.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is a highly watchable, decent production that succeeds on the strength of its gorgeous visuals and gentle, earnest tone. It might not be a groundbreaking piece of cinema, but it’s a lovely, slightly positive slice of world cinema that leaves you with a warm glow.
Pawo Choyning Dorji has crafted a perfectly serviceable, heartwarming fable that proves sometimes a familiar story, beautifully told in a stunning location, is more than enough.
What Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom will mean to any individual viewer probably depends on how much patience they have for feel-good simplicity and how far they are willing to let landscape do the work of argument. As a piece of filmmaking it sits closer to polished travelogue than to the more searching kind of world cinema, but as an introduction to a country and a way of life that most people know almost nothing about, it earns its place. Pawo Choyning Dorji has since continued working, and his debut suggests a director with a genuine visual sensibility who may, with a script willing to take more chances, produce something considerably more memorable in time. For now, Lunana is the kind of film that asks very little of you and, in return, delivers exactly what it promises: a long, cold walk to somewhere beautiful.
Rating: ★★★ | Year: 2019 | Watched: 2026-07-15
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (2019) on YouTube
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