Beyond Mount Kailash

“Beyond Mount Kailash” tells the moving story of Maria, who is oppressed by the dominance of her family and the narrowness of her German provincial hometown. The harsh expectations of her strict, unloving mother, who represses her own Nazi family past and is desperate to gain social acceptance, weigh heavily on her. To escape her mother and the rigid lifestyle, Maria moves to Hong Kong, where she feels liberated in the foreign culture. However, her desire for her mother’s approval never leaves her. She discovers new spiritual beliefs. She moves to India, where she and her husband decide to adopt a local girl. With her adopted daughter she experiences an overwhelming maternal love, something she herself never received. When her mother opposes the adoption, Maria collapses and retreats to an Indian ashram. The only escape she can see is through cremation on a funeral pyre along the banks of the Ganges. But at the last minute she is persuaded to embark on a pilgrimage around the holy Mount Kailash in Tibet, where through selflessness, she ultimately discovers her strength of compassion.