DC Museumgoer

Ah, Angkor Wat.

I’ve read all the stories about how over-touristed and threatened it is, but still I’d like to see it.

I’ve had an emotional attachment to the place since my first viewing of what would become my favorite movie ever, Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love. In the final scene, the impossibly debonair Tony Leung whispers the secret of his lost love into the doorway of one of the complex’s crumbling temples.

So iconic. I hold my breath every time I watch it.

For now, I’ll have to be satisfied with the pieces of Angkor represented at the Sackler Gallery’s entrancing Gods of Angkor: Bronzes from the National Museum of Cambodia. The show’s 36 bronzes represent Khmer culture’s crossroads mix of Buddhism and Brahmanism from prehistory through the 15th century, including a number of seated Buddha figures as well as sculptures of Hindu gods Vishnu and Ganesha.

I always find Buddha figures calming; these did not disappoint. They’re really quite beautiful, and I liked the fact that Khmer bronze casters made their statues at small scale so people could carry them to religious festivals or install them in their homes. Buddha-on-the-go, so to speak.

I’ll admit I found more spiritual sustenance here than at the Sackler’s Tibetan shrine next door, in part because I was thinking of love and loss and Tony Leung.

There you have it: my own secret’s out.

Gods of Angkor runs through January 3, 2011 at the Sackler Gallery.