a review of 与奇人相遇

It's a cool movie if you completely separate it from reality and treat it as a piece of escapist orientalism. Unfortunately, it is based on the book by Gurdjieff who claimed it to be real, and there are many people who believe it, even a foundation that propagates his ideas. So this should be treated like religious propaganda, like one of them Scientology movies with John Travolta. The idea of this "Sarmoung Brotherhood" that was established in 2500 BC and has somehow continued existing to this day is absolutely ludicrous. Anybody that knows anything about history or religion knows that this is an insane claim. Furthermore, the way it's presented is oddly perennialist. If it started in 2500 BC, long before Islam, why is it a Sufi order? If it's located in the Hindu Kush or Himalayas (it's not quite clear on that), why is it a community of whirling dervishes, which is a Turkish tradition? Why do they have a "patriarch"? Why are some members dressed like modern-day Western cult members instead of Muslims of their respective area? Generally speaking, the film seems to be actively avoiding theological discussions, in particular any mentions of Islamic terminology, which Sufi communities would surely be steeped in. It's all just this vague New Age "Eastern wisdom" bullshit that charlatans have been parroting in the West, especially since the mid-20th century. Gurdjieff himself comes out looking like a special character here. In one scene he sees a guy getting beaten up and just jumps in to rescue him. Why? How does he know the guy isn't, say, a pedophile that's getting his comeuppance? He just casually rescues him and they become close friends immediately. This is the kind of shit you would hear from Stephen Seagull. Upon doing a little research on Gurdjieff, it turns out he was a major bullshitter. He claimed to have met Essenes, heard the song of Gilgamesh from his father who had inherited it through the oral tradition, and the whole thing about the map of "pre-sand" Egypt. None of these things make any sense chronologically. The Gilgamesh thing even doesn't make sense culturally/geographically. The most hilarious thing of course is that he sets out on the quest to understand the meaning of life or the way he phrases it: "Why I am here." But the Sarmoung Brotherhood does not seem to be even interested in that question. They say some vague shit about letting energy flow through your body. Why Gurdjieff had to go find this order instead of joining the many existing ones is unclear. Because they don't seem to have any more of an answer than the hundreds of other religious movements around the world. But one thing I liked about this movie is the depiction of Armenia under Russian Empire's control. From the photos I've seen and my general experience living in the Caucasus, it's very accurate.