During Winter, an older Adult Monk returns to the abandoned monastery. A woman, hiding her face with a veil, brings an infant to leave in the monk's care. Adult Monk drags a large rock to the top of a mountain, similar to what he had done to those animals back when he was a child during Spring. Adult Monk makes his way to the top of the mountain overlooking the lake and monastery.

...And Spring, the cycle starts over as the new Child Monk gets into some similar mischief as the Adult Monk did during his Spring Sequence.

The film looks beautiful. The cinematography does an excellent job of capturing the colors of the seasons. The location of the monastery was exquisite and seemed well suited for the task it was built. Inside of the monastery a door didn't enclose the monk's bedroom. Respect was illustrated when someone used a door or when they chose to walk through the space in the wall.

I didn't understand why the Old Monk killed himself. He was in fine health so I found it unexpected; however, understanding the situation might not be the correct path because the film, similar to most Eastern religions, is not about understanding events. The true knowledge comes from accepting the events and learning from them.

I found the film to be a fascinating look at the different stages of man and the different ordeals that he faces. Innocence, Love, Evil, Enlightenment and Rebirth. It's a film with long scenes that are meant to allow you to reflect on parallel stages in your own life. The sequence during Winter with Adult Monk dragging the rock and meditating went on slightly too long or maybe it just seemed too long because I wasn't at that same stage of development as the character was.

This film might require too much contemplation for some viewers, so if you only go to movies for mindless entertainment, this is not the film for you. I would ask you to give it a chance but the amount of sex and senseless violence won't be enough to keep your mind from thinking.