Doing Time, Doing Vipassana

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana is a 1997 Israeli independent documentary film project by two women filmmakers from Israel: Ayelet Menahemi and Eilona Ariel. The film is about the application of the vipassana meditation technique taught by S. N. Goenka to prisoner rehabilitation at Tihar Jail in India[1] (which was reputed to be an exceptionally harsh prison).[2] The film inspired other correctional facilities such as the North Rehabilitation Facility in Seattle to use Vipassana as a means of rehabilitation.[3]

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana
theatrical poster
Directed by
Produced byEilona Ariel
StarringKiran Bedi
Narrated byPaul Samson
Music by
  • Ady Cohen
  • Ari Frankel
CinematographyAyelet Menahemi
Edited byAyelet Menahemi
Production
company
Karuna Films
Distributed byImmediate Pictures
(2005 theatrical)
Release date
1997
Running time
52 minutes
Country
  • India
  • Israel
LanguageEnglish

Kiran Bedi, former Inspector General of Prisons for New Delhi, appears in the film.

Reception

Doing Time, Doing Vipassana received an average score of 64 based on eight critics at Metacritic.[4] It received a 71% rating based on 14 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes.[5]

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote of the film winning the Golden Spire Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival when noting its 2005 theatrical release. They praised the film, writing it had "distinct virtues: It tells a fascinating story. It makes a strong case for an alternative approach to incarcerated criminals. And it provides an attractive introduction to Vipassana meditation." [6]

Slant Magazine gave the film two out of five stars, and generally panned the film, stating that the directors "fail to really get inside the heads of their subjects and to seriously convey the extent to which violence plays a role in their daily lives, choosing instead to follow the process with which Vipassana comes to the prison community and holds its prisoners in rapture." They felt the film's repeated use of "hyperbolic narration....strains to summon a sense of spiritual gravitas" and that the filmmakers brevity and informational tone made the film "something akin to an Epcot Center attraction." [7]

Awards and nominations

See also

References
  1. Holden, Stephen (8 July 2005). "Prisoners Finding New Hope in the Art of Spiritual Bliss". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  2. King, Sallie B. (2009). Socially Engaged Buddhism. University of Hawaii Press. p. 152. ISBN 082483335X.
  3. Zook, Kristal Brent (2006). Black women's lives : stories of power and pain. New York: Nation Books. pp. 239–240. ISBN 1560257903.
  4. "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana". Metacritic. 5 July 2005. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  5. "Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  6. LaSalle, Mick (27 May 2005). "Also opening Friday". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  7. Gonzales, Ed (6 July 2005). "review: Doing Time, Doing Vipassana". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  8. Its Always Possible: Transforming One of the Largest Prisons in the World. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2005. p. 307. ISBN 8120728866.
  9. staff (24 March 1999). "Award-winning video to be presented". Juneau Empire. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
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