The Giant Buddhas

Country: Switzerland 2005

Picture from giant-buddhas
Details giant-buddhas

Seen 23 February 2006
A documentary on the giant Buddhas in the Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan. This was the famous statues destroyed by the Talibans when they ruled Afghanistan. The director showed the relevance of the statues to the local people, the archeologists, the media and an Afghan lady who lives abroad. There was also a Chinese connection since there was a journal by a monk who made a journey to the Bamiyan valley in the seventh century detailing the spectacle with mention of a grander statue nearby. All that is lost to us now. The Afghan lady laments that the statues were a part of her country's legacy but now there is a gap in their history. The people have lost a part of themselves. The past defined them as a people and country but the evidence is lost forever.