List Price:   $9.99 Price:   $9.99 find out more information

Buy posters from this movie

Tibet has been a hot issue for some time now, and anyone wanting to tell its story with any degree of credibility is bound to feel a certain burden of representation – a desire to ‘get it right’. Whether or not Kundun is the final word on the Dalai Lama doesn’t disregard the overwhelming sense that Martin Scorsese feels this burden, and he has responded by delivering one of the most moving human epics to have graced our screens for a very long time.

The first challenge in approaching a film like Kundun is getting one’s head around the apparently unusual subject matter chosen by a director who has rarely ventured outside the domain of criminal activity and in-your-face violence. Of course, this single-mindedness is quickly countered by films such as the visually sumptuous Age of Innocence, or how about his attempted musical New York, New York, and Scorsese’s exploration of the ‘women’s picture’ Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More.

Then there’s the most obvious comparison, The Last Temptation of Christ, which proved Scorsese’s ability to delve not only into a character’s psyche, but dig even deeper to lay bare the spiritual struggle that for many of us is the essence of being human. Yet these disparate styles are bound by very personal and constant concerns, and it is this rich and complex oeuvre that gives Kundun such power and presence.

Kundun unfolds gently and rhythmically to reveal a vast and vivid tapestry of a long religious tradition, and the people whose lives are dedicated to its understanding of the connectedness of life, and a journey of peace.

As a cinematic piece, it is vibrant and mesmerising, with Scorsese using each and every frame with creative precision. It is populated largely by non-actors, and perhaps this is its major weakness in terms of our own understanding and appreciation of ‘screen acting’. Yet this ‘weakness’ allows for some genuinely moving moments, stripped of pretension and alive with heartfelt emotion.

In the end, the life of the fourteenth Dalai Lama takes on a three-dimensional human shape, and his hope for his people is presented intelligently and without embarrassing platitudes. Even at almost three hours, Kundun is too short a film. ---Paul Garcia

 del.icio.us    
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=447&reviewer=14
originally posted: 09/14/98 16:57:39
 printer-friendly format