Berlin - Far from the glare of Israeli-Palestinian politics, Israeli filmmaker Nati Baratz has intrigued audiences at the 59th Berlin Film Festival with an extraordinary documentary about a monk's "reincarnation."

Called "Unmistaken Child," Baratz' entry in the festival's Panorama section is based on Nepalese monk Tenzin Zopa's lengthy search for the new embodiment of Gesche Lama Konchog, a revered rinpoche - an honorific title in Tibetan Buddhism for a master teacher - who died in 2001.

But while the documentary went down well in Berlin, it inevitably triggered more questions than it answered, with some movie-goers shaken by a child being separated from its real-life parents.

In 2001, Gesche Lama Konchog, one of the great contemporary Tibetan Masters, who spent close on 30 years meditating in a Tibetan cave, passed away, aged 84.

His death shocked many Tibetan monks. But, at his cremation pyre there were said to be clear signs indicating his "imminent reincarnation."

This led senior lamas in India to consult with Taiwanese astrologers who revealed the high probability that the baby's father's name started with an "A" and that he would be coming from a place beginning with TS.

Konchog's loyal and long-serving pupil, monk Tenzin Zopa, was given the task of locating his master's incarnation. But it was agreed the search could only be conducted over a four year period.

The feeling being that a longer search would only increase the problems of separating the "chosen" one from its real-life parents if it went beyond that.

Both the fluent English-speaking monk Zopa and director Baratz were in Berlin for the film's presentation. Both went front-stage after the film to answer questions from the public.

Tenzin Zopa said that from the age of six he had lived in the close vicinity of the revered Lama Konchog who had served as his "disciple" for 21 years.

After a footprint was found in the ashes of the master's funeral pyre, along with several pearls, the lamas and rinpoches of Zopa's monastery suddenly became convinced that Konchog was intending to be "reincarnated."

Zopa gets the job of heading the search, which he doesn't feel worthy of but ultimately pursues very determinedly.

So begins the film, as Zopa travels through the spectacular mountainous communities of his home Tsum Valley in Nepal in search of his master's "reincarnation" in the body of a small boy who could be living anywhere in the world.

He carries the rosaries of the late master, asking each young child he encounters, "do you recognise these?"

To be successful, he knows he has to find a child younger than three, for only then might it be easier to arrange a "separation" from its real-life parents.

His journeys take him to breathtaking regions of Nepal and Tibet, through mountainous areas, tiny villages, and beautiful valleys where little has changed in centuries.

Cameramen track his every move by helicopter, donkey and on foot. In Nepal he spends long stints moving about the spectacular Tsum Valley, where he encounters curious rural families, some with off- spring aged three or under.

With the help of astrologers, the interpretation of dreams, and the advice of villagers he finally singles out a boy who "could be the one" he is searching for. Mysterious rituals are conducted to establish his identity.

The strong, pudgy-faced youngster is oblivious to some of the events happening around him, and yells heartily when he is shorn of his mop of hair by Zopa.

But, surprisingly if not incredibly, he soon is coping with a radically different way of life - in a monastery far from his from his parents' humble hill-side home.

From now on his parents will only see him once a year. They agree to let him be taken from them, but it's not an easy decision and the pain of departure is etched in the father's face.

Besides Monk Tenzin Zopa the film also features the Dalai Lama in a short sequence. At one point, Zopa sits the child on his knee at the mountain retreat where he himself first met Konchog, and tells the boy about that first encounter - when he himself was a boy.

The documentary is a striking essay in the complexities of Buddhist tradition, but for some movie-goers too many questions remained unanswered.

In Berlin, monk Tenzin Zopa said the child who unwittingly stars in the film is now six years old

"There were big celebrations at the monastery on his recent sixth birthday. It was a very happy occasion," he claimed. (dpa)