It is 'contemptible,' right? And yet, as the film played out, I could only find both the man, Vikram Gandhi, and especially the fiction, Guru Kumaré, to be --likeable. Is it weird that I started wishing that the Guru Kumaré were real?
The thing is, as portrayed by the film, though a charlatan, he does not seem to be a negative or a harmful force in these people's lives. On the contrary, he seems to be very much a positive force in their lives. And, most importantly, in a very substantive way, at least on some level, he turns out to be not a charlatan, at all. At least, I can't help entertaining that idea. In a tricky way, yes, and in not the most commendable of a ways, he just may have managed to be one of the most authentic gurus I can imagine.
I think that part of what makes that work is, here is a guy, the filmmaker, he's basically unemployed with nothing better to do, apparently, than to hang out and be, you could even forget about his pretending to be a guru, but just be a good friend to his students. He listens to them intently. He really does seem to give them his full attention and thoughtful input. He's gentle, considerate, nonjudgmental, and caring with them. In other words, he's what most of us would probably think of as an ideal friend. That's his job. And if you asked me what a guru ought to be, well, I'd answer, probably that.
Another factor that's key is that ultimately the filmmakers do not make Kumaré's core followers look bad. Even the noncore spirituality seekers and gurus are dealt with by a fairly gentle hand. And that's very good.
In fact, it all gets fairly touching towards the end.
Oh man, I was relieved and glad that he didn't come clean to them in the unveiling scene at the pool. That probably would have been ugly, bad, and just not the right thing to do. To play it like they did was right. Let them have that sweet "conclusion," without the slap in the face that I think his confession would have been in that moment.
The way they did come clean after that was still cringeworthy, but thankfully not unbearable or unwatchable. And it was rather exhilarating to see and to hear the positive, even mirthful reactions. And a relief. It seems like that was about as smart of a way to handle it as anyone was likely to come up with.
And it's totally understandable that the yoga instructor, especially, and others walked out. By then I was feeling quite sentimental and warm about how things had gone. But that's a point in the film when you're brought careening back to face those pesky questions about the ethics of what he's been up to...playing with these people's lives, hearts, and, in the case of the yoga instructor, her business.
Oy.
But it also helps to make the film thought provoking, I suppose. And that's not meant to be a justification or a rationalization for it. I mean, if he had chosen not to pursue this premise, which would probably have been the right thing to do, then I wouldn't be thinking about it or writing about it now. Huh.
And in a way, because he actually turned out to be a pretty darn good guru, and even more so, a likeable one, that does make it difficult for me to condemn it. For the most part, he was, except for the whole fraud thing, a good friend to most of them, and, even a pretty wise guru.
Do those ends justify the means?
Probably not. But it's certainly an interesting film.
