WINDHORSE (M). (Gil Scrine Films) Directors: Paul Wagner and Thupten Tsering Stars: Dadon, Jampa Kelsang, Richard Chang, Lu Yu, Taije Silverman, Gelek Running time: 97 minutes.
Unlike recent big budget Hollywood productions dealing with Tibet, the low budget Windhorse relentlessly pricks away at the audiences' conscience by exposing the plight of the Tibetan people in the years since the Chinese occupation. Set in contemporary Tibet, Windhorse shows the systematic repression and destruction of the country's religion and culture in the forty years since the Chinese invasion.
This is the first feature film from Oscar winning documentary director Paul Wagner (The Stone Carvers, etc), but it has been largely shaped by his years of documenting unpalatable truths for the camera. Wagner's camera unflinchingly captures the depressing poverty of the capital Lhasa, and depicts the many temples that have been laid to waste. However, the film also captures the resilient spirit and character of the Tibetan people. The title itself comes from the Tibetan tradition of inscribing prayers of hope and freedom on little bits of paper and letting them float through the air. Wagner has also incorporated traditional Tibetan music into the evocative and haunting soundtrack, which further enriches the film.
Unlike the lavish, albeit sanitised Kundun and Seven Years In Tibet, much of Windhorse was actually clandestinely shot inside Tibet itself, using hand held cameras smuggled into Tibet while posing as tourists. Wagner and his crew shot many of the important background locations under the noses of the Chinese security forces, at great personal risk. (The remainder of the film was shot in nearby Kathmandu.) The gritty visual style gives the film a sense of urgency and immediacy missing from those other productions.
Wagner paints a grim picture of contemporary Tibet, one in which the people are constantly watched by the vigilant Chinese, who ruthlessly suppress any hint of rebellion or dissension. Images of the Dalai Lama are forbidden, and the consequences for protest or disobedience are severe. In the past four decades, over one million Tibetans have mysteriously disappeared, or been tortured, murdered or exiled by the Chinese secret police.
Windhorse centres around three twenty something Tibetans who have thus far managed to survive in this dangerous climate by avoiding any sort of conflict with the Chinese authorities. Eighteen years earlier the three witnessed the brutal execution of their grandfather by the Chinese. Although the incident has left deep psychological scars, they have come to believe that any thoughts of resistance are futile. Dolkar (Tibetan singer Dadon) sings karaoke in a night-club, and eventually secures a recording contract singing propaganda for her Chinese masters. Her unemployed brother Dorjee (Jampa Kolsangi) is resentful of the Chinese, but refuses to join the underground resistance movement. Their cousin Pema has become a nun. But when Pema is arrested for daring to protest against the Chinese occupation in a market, Dolkar and Dorjee are finally forced to take action that will forever change their lives.
Windhorse is a confronting, powerfully moving and insightful film that boldly and openly criticises the harsh Chinese regime. Wagner and his co-director Thupten Tsering used a cast and crew comprising of Tibetan exiles, many of whom have withheld their names from the production for fear of Chinese reprisals. This gives a poignancy to their natural and realistic performances, and further adds to the overall feeling of authenticity that permeates the film.
However, the film is not without its technical flaws, most of them a result of Wagner's lack of resources.
*** greg king http://www.netau.com.au/gregking
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