REVIEW: Kundun By Luke Buckmaster (bucky@alphalink.com.au)
Cast: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tenzin Yeshi Paichang, Tsewang Migyur Khangsar, Tencho Gyalpo, Sonam Phuntsok, Gyatso Lukhang, Tenzin Trinley, Jigme Tsarong, Robert Lin Director: Martin Scorsese Producer: Barbara De Fina Screenplay: Melissa Mathison Cinematography: Roger Deakins Music: Philip Glass Australian release date: June 18
>From 0 stars (bomb), to 5 stars (a masterpiece): 5 stars
Martin Scorsese's Kundun is to Tibetan Buddhist's what Jesus of Nazareth is to Christians. Both of them are revelations; religiously inspired - and not specifically character driven - examinations of myth and history. They're more than just motion pictures. They're visual journeys through the beliefs of followers across the world. Make no mistake: Kundun is a daring, admirable work of art that depicts the life of one of the greatest religious figures this century - the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Scorsese starts us off with the tale of a two-year old named Tenzin Gyatso. A Buddhist monk (disguised as a servant) finds him, and believes he is the fourteenth reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Sure enough, the boy correctly identifies the thirteenth's personal items and becomes the spiritual ruler of Tibet. Through the following years, Tenzin is extensively trained by high-monks on how a Dalai Lama should look, think and sound.
At only 16 years of age, Tenzin finds himself protecting his country from the grasping hands of communist China. Along the way he has to cope with the death of his father, the tyranny of the Chinese and the ever-increasing responsibilities of his godly role.
It's a hard to imagine a true story being more compelling, more fascinating than that of the fourteenth Dalai Lama's. It's also hard to imagine a film that can grasp it successfully without the intrusion of Hollywood influence. Last years Seven years in Tibet was a potential masterpiece that ended up looking sheepish and frivolous; a potent story told incorrectly due to miscasting (Brad Pit as an Austrian mountain climber?) and misinterpretation from the screenplay. It may have been an easy to watch, easy to enjoy flick - but it felt too simplified, too refined to be taken seriously as a mature picture.
If Kundun had fallen victim to the above faults, it would have surely been one of the biggest missed opportunities of recent years. But much to my astonishment, I found that Scorsese never falters in delivering bounding, gripping cinema. His vision and enlightenment into the life of this remarkable human being is truly engaging as both a look at his personal life, and his god-like life through the eyes of the people around him.
Even on an optical level, Kundun never fails to triumph. The lush Morocco scenery (of course, the Chinese did not allow Scorsese to film it in Tibet) is beautifully manipulated by cinematographer Roger Deakins (The Shawshank Redemption, Rob Roy). Combined with some flashy camera techniques, the whole production looks pretty darn classy - so if you can't appreciate Kundun on an intellectual basis, its amazing eye candy will no doubt be enough to keep you gawking for more. And if this isn't enough pleasure for the senses, Philip Glass' swashbuckling music score is used to great effect.
What is even more impressive is the film's almost perfectly composed screenplay. Reportedly, the Dalai Lama gave his input into the 14 draft scripts written by Melissa Mathison (whose other screenplay credits include ET: The Extraterrestrial and The Indian in the Cupboard). What eventuated is a balanced combination of historical fact and character development; emotion and integrity. One scene, when an Indian soldier asks the Dalai Lama whether he is the Lord Buddha, his carefully placed answer is given: "I believe I am a reflection, like the moon on water. When you see me, and I try to be a good man, you see yourself." But by then I guess it really made no difference, as Scorsese already had my heart totally immersed, my mind almost over powered with emotion and respect for this character who continued to defy textbook expectations.
Just like the astonishing story of a man saving the lives of Jews in oppression, which of course later became the motion picture Schindlers List, the tale of the fourteenth Dalai Lama simply needed to be told. And more than that, it needed to be told well - with respect not only for the Tibetan Buddhists, but also for westerners who won't want to sit through a two hour lecture on how good Buddhism is.
Perhaps that's why Martin Scorsese succeeds with Kundun on so many levels. If there were any biases, I couldn't spot them - he approaches the subject matter with wise admiration for the Dalai Lama; not trying to convince us of the Tibetan way of life but still presenting it to us vividly and honestly.
A little man named Steven Spielberg once believed that there are two different things a cinema might show: a movie, or a film. If his theory is correct, Kundun joins other moving historical epics like Schindlers List, in a collection of true "films."
Review © copyright Luke Buckmaster
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