Release Date: December 25, 1997

In The Sopranos, there's a scene in which a young Mafioso sees Scorsese (played by Anthony Caso) entering a nightclub and shouts, "Marty! Kundun -- I liked it!" Coming on the heels of the gangster epic Casino, Kundun took some by surprise, but this biography of the 14th Dalai Lama can be seen as a companion piece with The Last Temptation of Christ. Made in Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, it's a devout, patient, gorgeously-shot work -- and if it doesn't delve deeply enough into the inner workings of His Holiness, Kundun provides both a dramatic recreation of the conflict between Tibet and China, as well as a crash course in Buddhist principles and rituals.

Kundun begins in 1937, with a group of lamas searching for the latest incarnation of the Dalai Lama. They discover a two-year-old in a farming village near the Chinese border, and the boy is deemed a worthy successor after successfully selecting which items randomly laid on a table belonged to the previous Dalai Lama. The boy grows into his role, with intensive study of Buddhism and a preternatural grasp of political affairs. However, he's tested when China annexes Tibet; after a few promising meetings with Mao Zedong, the Dalai Lama (played as an adult by Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong) realizes that Tibet's way of life is under attack.

Featuring a moody, evocative score by Philip Glass, Kundun is one of Scorsese's most visually ravishing pictures, and while it occasionally veers into standard biopic tropes, it's a reverent, impassioned work. Kundun's sympathetic treatment of Tibet irked Chinese authorities, who permanently banned Scorsese and screenwriter Melissa Mathison from entering the country.