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Kundun
on DVD (1997)
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Brief synopsis of Kundun
Martin Scorsese's telling of the life story of the 14th Dalai Lama is a spiritual and deeply moving event. Barely able to walk, the young Tenzin Gyatso (played respectively by Tulku Jamyang Kung Tenzin, Gyurme Tethong, and Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong) is identified as the newly reincarnated form of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Leaving his family behind in order to live in a monastery, he grows to manhood in spiritual isolation, sheltered from the influences of Western worldliness and the dangerous encroachment of the Chinese army, which invaded Tibet in 1950 and forced the Buddhist leaders into exile. Preaching peace and understanding among all people, the Dalai Lama eventually travels to China to meet Chairman Mao Tse Tung, to no avail. In a heartbreaking decision, the Dalai Lama must decide whether to remain in Tibet and fight for his people or flee his homeland and avert almost certain death.
Scorsese's obvious affection and dedication to the Tibetan leader shines through in every frame of the picture, which features stellar performances by its mostly nonprofessional cast. Adding infinite depth to the story are Roger Deakins's cinematography and Philip Glass's score, which earned both men Oscar nominations. Politics and religion aside, KUNDUN is filmmaking at its most profound and beautiful.
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Critics Reviews
Radio Times
Emerging from his usual gangster-ridden mean streets, director Martin Scorsese sets his sights higher to the wide-open Himalayan spaces for this biography of the Dalai Lama. Scorsese's epic follows the Tibetan leader from his supposed reincarnation as the son of a humble family, through his investiture and his attempts to build a working relationship with — and eventual rejection of — Chinese socialism to his exile. Trouble is, the screenplay (by Melissa Mathison, who also wrote the script for ET) paints too rosy a picture of Buddhism, never questioning a country in which priests and poor are set so far apart. Roger Deakins's photography, though, is as luminous as a halo.
Box Office
"...A stunning visual feast and a moving meditation on the difficulty of sustaining the Buddhist principle of nonviolence in a brutal world..." -- 4 out of 5 stars
New York Times
"...A glittering historical pageant infused with gorgeous, pulsing music by Philip Glass....Composed of dazzling, beautifully framed imagery..."
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