Nicholas Vreeland started his life in high society, where photography was an important element. It was his grandmother’s claim to fame, his sole interest outside of being a dandy and causing mischief, and led to his first job. But an interest in monkhood replaced this early way of life, and after a blessing from the Dalai Lama, he went to India to embrace a life of servitude. Monk With a Camera (2014) tells the story of this journey.

Unable to ever eliminate photography from his life, Vreeland reservedly kept with the hobby. It paid off when he was able to fund the completion of his monastery using profits from selling his photos, but the act of taking photos remains a constant battle between his religious and personal desires. Photography is important, but more so is faith.

“The contrast between aesthetics and faith that Nicky sometimes sees as a conflict in his life also provides a fascinating subtext to the film. Sometimes the beauty of the world—and images of it—can be a first step toward religious awakening and commitment. There’s a conflict between the two only when the mind allows there to be.” - RogerEbert.com

What the film doesn’t really discuss is Vreeland’s particular belief system. It doesn’t get into explaining exactly what about Buddhism called Vreeland to the monkhood, what he studies, what he teaches, or how he lives. It’s just “Buddhism,” and the way of life opposite from his childhood and material satisfaction brought him a sense of peace and purpose. It’s a film more focused on Vreeland’s inner journey. It would have been nice to learn a little bit more about Buddhism and what Vreeland actually believes, but that wasn’t the direction the film was looking, and it’s not entirely necessary to tell the story they were trying to tell.

For some, while still receiving overall praise, the film raises questions about the purity of everyone’s motivations. For instance, NPR’s fairly-positive review ends with, “Buried beneath the admiring encomia and ritual spectacle that clog the pores of this maddeningly tactful film is a tantalizing glimpse into the personal and institutional mechanics of Tibetan Buddhism. Vreeland is the first Westerner to head a monastery, and Monk With a Camera gives us no reason to doubt that he makes a perfectly fine executive. But his appointment by the Dalai Lama himself — who visits with enough bells and whistles to make you wonder if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge can’t be far behind — surely can’t be separated from the fact that, like [Richard] Gere, Vreeland is an American royal with harnessable connections to money and power.”