What is clearly a sacred event to the Indian and non-native participants becomes a crazed, depth-less spectacle of cinematic tourism in the hands of the filmmakers, who drop us into the midst of the fracas with no sense of perspective, insight or voice.

| Feb 3, 2020

As entertaining as it is illuminating.

| Oct 20, 2005

Less a sober examination of this huge event than an impressionistic swirl of images and sounds (and, if you use your imagination, smells).

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 23, 2005

Highly recommended for anyone in search of a different answer to universal questions of faith and hope.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 12, 2005

Unless you're utterly fascinated by the minutiae of Hinduism, you may find yourself wishing for more story to this story -- and this film does not oblige.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 9, 2005

Instead of being pilgrims ourselves, we feel like we're sightseers who stopped by on the tour bus to gawk at the locals, take a few pictures, and then hop back on.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 8, 2005

The film gives an amazing feel for the complexity and diversity of such a massive event.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jul 8, 2005

Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela is travelogue-style documentary filmmaking at its best.

| Original Score: A- | Jun 15, 2005

Short Cut to Nirvana is a swirl of color, an exotic procession of sights and sounds.

| Jun 2, 2005

Too scattershot to make a real point about the true nature of a spiritual path.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 29, 2005

Sacred subject matter notwithstanding, Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day's entertaining film is a surprising spiritual cousin to the so-called 'mondo' movies of the '60s and '70s.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 15, 2005

A documentary chronicle of the 2001 Kumbh Mela, a sort of spiritual Woodstock held every 12 years near Allahabad, India.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 15, 2005

Mostly, Benazzo and Day leave us alone to take in the extraordinary sights and sounds.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 15, 2005

While this documentary about a religious pilgrimage in India feels haphazard and superficial, the glimpses it offers are never less than fascinating.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 14, 2005

An engrossing documentary that vividly presents the variety and vitality of Hindu devotion.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 14, 2005

Benazzo and Day can only scratch a monumental, perhaps impossible, surface, but their effort is a worthy introduction to what is more than a single life's task.

| Apr 13, 2005

The directors and subjects evince enough contagious ecstasy to gladden the most angst-ridden Western hearts.

| Apr 12, 2005

A remarkable and enlightening (although perhaps not to the point of nirvana itself) film.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 27, 2005

Filmmakers Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day are much more taken with the conventionish sideshow (there are estimates of these crowds ranging from 30 million to 70 million, making these the largest gatherings of humanity ever) than the deeper content.

| Mar 11, 2005

A fascinating look into a world few Americans are even aware of.

| Mar 8, 2005