This Martin Scorsese film drama detailing the Dalai Lama's life story was in development for seven years, with the Dalai Lama having input into the 14 screenplay drafts by Melissa Mathison (The Black Stallion, E.T.). With four actors portraying the Dalai Lama at different ages, Scorsese's chronicle begins in 1933 with the death of the 13th Dalai Lama. Born in a remote area, the new Dalai Lama (seen at ages two and five in early sequences) is observed by monks who determine that he is the 14th
reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion. In 1944 the Dalai Lama uses newsreels and Western magazines to study WWII events, and as the war ends, he is forced to deal with Chinese Communist aggression. Protests from the Dalai Lama in 1949 are ignored as Mao (Robert Lin) maintains a military stranglehold on Tibet, eventually forcing the Dalai Lama to flee to Dharmsala, India. With a $28 million budget, Scorsese re-created Tibet's tragedy by filming in south-central Morocco with a cast of nonprofessional Tibetan actors. Second unit work took place at locations in Idaho and British Columbia. Avant-garde composer Philip Glass contributed a score with hypnotic, ritualistic overtones. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
The music ties together all the pretty pictures, gives the narrative some momentum, and helps to induce a kind of alert detachment, so that you're neither especially interested nor especially bored.
Disregarding commercial considerations, Scorsese's haunting meditation on Dalai Lama's early life is a majestic spectacle of images and sounds, but it's bogged down by a routine script that fails to offer fresh insights on Tibet's non-violent culture
A challenging, thought provoking, mediative film that sits uncomfortably with Scorcese's previous work is helped no end by a superb score by Philip Glass.
Kundun is surely the most gentle and meditative of Scorsese's films, a placid biography with the scope of an epic, the quality of a storybook, and the dramatic stakes of a tragedy.
There's no denying the artistry of Kundun. Its heart also appears to be in the right place. But for those like me who don't have a versed history in the modern history of Tibet or Buddhism, the scope is ultimately too big.
Urged on by Philip Glass's throbbing, blaring score, the director conjures a phenomenal, trance-like climax, owing more to dreams, second sight and the mind's eye than conventional dramatic rhetoric.
Martin Scorcese has made a meditative, low key historical drama about a truly mystical figure of our modern history, departing from his usual, violence-prone flicks.
Kundun is both a stunning visual feast and a moving meditation on the difficulty of sustaining the Buddhist principle of nonviolence in a brutal world.
more than any of scorsese's films, kundun shows his remarkable range as a story teller. the film struggled to draw in real emotion at points and reverence shown to the dalai lama went too far in missing an opportunity to show his flaws, but just about every other element of this film was nearly perfect. deakins
cinematography was astounding, some of the best of his already mind blowing career, and the landscapes, costumes, and acting performances were all excellent. when this film is set against scorsese's gangster films as a contrast, you can really see the difference between the hate and sin of those characters and the humility and spirituality of these ones. a stunning film.
November 28, 2007
danny d
Super Reviewer
A film I have been wanting to see for quite some time, purely on a spiritual level and because I have an attraction toward Tibet.
I feel I have learned a few things from this film, but at the same time I found it a little boring - which was a little disappointing.
The film, directed by Scorsese, was made well and I'm
sure resembled the facts as a true story, it just wasn't as insightful as I had hoped it would be.
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