The Swiss documentary "Through the Eastern Gate" - on view at the first Phangan Film Festival next month - is about three young Westerners' search for spirituality in the East.

Directed last year by Mironel de Wilde and Julien L Balmer, the movie reveals the universality of spiritual truths, as seen in the parallels that the trio discovers in Tibetan Buddhism, sufism and tantric yoga.

We meet an Australian nun among the Tibetan refugees in north India, an American whirling dervish in Turkey and a Finnish yogini in south India.

It's fascinating to watch and hear their mentors demonstrate different stories of the aspiration and commitment behind the spiritual life.

As Aziz Abbatiello, one of the main characters, put it, "I know now how little I know. I know that I'm not enlightened, and I know that I'm just a crumb of dust, hopefully stuck to the wheel of creation. But I see the path that I must walk."

Every single word in the film provokes soul-searching, and the dialogue is enfolded in beautiful scenery and remarkable music. The modern "Westernised" world, on the other hand, is represented by Bangkok's business district, Siam Square and Skytrain.

The movie got me thinking, though, that if Westerners search for spirituality in the East, what are we Eastern people searching for?

The documentary's official website is www.ThroughTheEasternGate.com.

By Tanistha Dansilp

Special to Sunday Xpress