Awake

4 stars out of 5
This is a biopic of Yogananda, the Hindu Yogi who brought Yoga to America in the 1920s. I had read  his Autobiography of a Yogi several years ago, but was impressed with the way this film made the words of Yogananda come alive. The usual documentary biopic stuff is used: archival film and photographs, recreated scenes, shots of the places he went and the people he knew, and readings from his works, plus recordings of his own voice. It was an enthralling 90 minutes, and I certainly came away knowing a few things about him that weren't in his book. It is a shame, for example, that he had a falling out with his childhood friend that slowed his American work. If you are at all interested in the man, or in the history of Yoga in America, or, for that matter, the true nature of Yoga, the film is worth your time.