14 Apples(2018)

14 Apples is a Burmese drama following Wang Shin-hong, a wealthy Mandalay businessman plagued by insomnia. On a fortune teller's advice, he spends 14 days at a rural monastery, living as a monk and eating one apple daily. Shaved and robed, Wang expects spiritual refuge but instead discovers the harsh realities surrounding him. The impoverished villagers who place their meager savings in his alms bowl are struggling migrants seeking work across borders in China, Thailand, and Malaysia. Even the monks themselves pursue profit and side income. What begins as a personal retreat becomes an eye-opening encounter with survival, desperation, and the gap between Wang's comfortable life and the community's daily struggles. The film examines how spiritual sanctuary intersects with economic hardship in contemporary Burma.