WINDHORSE
Reviewed by Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Shadow Distribution Director: Paul Wagner Writer: Paul Wagner Cast: Dadon, Jampa Kelsang, Pasang Dolma, Dadon, Names Withheld, Jampa Kelsang, Richard Chang, Lu Yu, Taije Silverman, Pema Choekyi, Nima Bhuti
On the day I screened this wonderfully dramatized story on April 6, Chinese Premier Zhu arrived in Los Angeles in preparation for his meeting with President Clinton in Washington. Since Mr. Clinton has taken a strong stand pro- human rights by justifiably battling ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians by Serbs in Yugoslavia, the producers of this film--including its entire cast and crew--would probably just love to have our president see it before or during his meeting with the Chinese leader. The drama could awaken him to such an extent that he would drive a harder bargain than currently anticipated with China over its human rights abuses, particularly in its western province of Tibet. Stating that 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed by Chinese forces since 1959 and that 100,000 of the Tibetan people have trekked across the Himalayas to freedom in India and Nepal is one thing. Seeing the horrors of Chinese rule in that brave area on top of the world is yet another. What could have been crude propaganda in the hands of a second-rate filmmaker comes out--under the exquisitely nuanced hand of writer-director Paul Wagner--as pure poetry. The very first feature film ever in the Tibetan language, "Windhorse"--which has already been seen and cheered by tens of thousands of Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal and at U.S. film festivals--is a must-see for anyone with the slightest interest in world politics. Viewing the film affords the sort of insight that only motion pictures can provide into the brutality that humankind is capable of and the unending desire for freedom that such ruthless treatment engenders in its victims.
The ponderous narration which frames the movie (its only weak point) informs us that the titled windhorses are pieces of paper left on the ground to be spirited to the gods by the wind. Each sheet of paper, written in the Tibetan language, is a prayer, a plea for freedom. The story then opens in a remote mountain village in 1979. Two girls jump rope: Dolkar and her brother Dorjee are interrupted from play by the arrival of two Chinese soldiers who summarily execute their grandfather for putting up a poster demanding that the Chinese leave Tibet and go home.
Director Wagner shifts to the year 1997. The children, now grown, have gone off in different directions. Dolkar (Dadon) is a beautiful singer with hopes of national fame, while her cousin Pema (Name withheld) has become a Buddhist nun. Dolkar and her brother Dorjee (Jampa Kolsang) have moved to the provincial capital of Lhasa where they live with their mother and feisty grandmother. The latter adamantly refuses to stash her pictures of the Dalai Lama into a hiding place per a ban by the Chinese government on exhibitions of the Tibetan spiritual leader. The old lady's militancy is reflected in the hostility which Dorjee feels toward the occupying power. He has become a bum who drinks and hangs around the pool hall while his sister, together with her Chinese boy friend Duan-ping (Richard Chang), plan out a career for the lovely singer. To rise in her profession, Dolkar must sell out: she must follow the orders of record producer and party boss Mr. Du (Richard Chang) and go on China-wide TV with songs praising the glories of Chinese rule, comparing Chairman Mao to the Golden Sun.
When Dolkar sees with horror the brutalities inflicted by Chinese authorities on her cousin Pema--who had spontaneously shouted "Free Tibet" in a public square and was arrested, imprisoned, and beaten--she thinks better of her actions, realizing that she may be gaining an affluent livelihood but is losing her soul.
The movie is not without humor, particularly when centering on the grandmother who cannot stand to look at Dolkar's Chinese boy friend, who spits secretly into his tea, and who seems to challenge the authorities to do something about her high-spirited defiance of the occupation. American travelers who have ever been invited into foreign homes can readily identify with a scene showing the grandma making Tibetan tea for a Western guest, Amy (Taije Silverman), who speaks fluent Tibetan and must utilize her diplomatic powers to stomach a brew made with a huge blob of churned butter and an abundant share of salt. Amy learns first-hand about the plight of Tibetans through the hardships endured by Dolkar's family and is entrusted with carrying the story of the Tibetan people's oppression to the outside world.
This endearing tale features both professional and non-professional performers all acting up a storm. Some refuse to put their names in the credits for fear of reprisals against their families. The movie has justifiably won accolades at festivals in Santa Barbara, Washington D.C., Telluride and Florida. Not only does this break ground by being the first movie made in the Tibetan language: "Windhorse" had to be filmed secretly while the crew were in Tibet, using various signals to take the place of formal Hollywood-style cues, while a smaller segment of the movie was shot in independent Nepal. The viewer comes away from a heartfelt narrative which is bereft of crude propaganda and which incidentally takes in some distinguished travelogue-type photography of the Lhasa market place and the glories of the Himalayan Mountains--where a hardy group of people struggle to live out their lives, honor the spirits, and resist Chinese rule as well as they can.
Not Rated. Running Time: 97 minutes. (C) 1999 Harvey Karten
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