Kundun (1997)
75 %
Reviews Counted: 51 Fresh: 38 Rotten:13 Average Rating: 7.3/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 15 mins
Synopsis: Martin Scorsese's telling of the life story of the 14th Dalai Lama is a spiritual and deeply moving event. Barely able to walk, the young Tenzin Gyatso (played respectively by Tulku Jamyang Kung Tenzin, Gyurme Tethong, and Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong) is identified as the newly reincarnated form... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tencho Gyalpo, Tenzin Topjar
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenwriter: Melissa Mathison
Producer: Barbara De Fina
Composer: Philip Glass
Screenwriter: Melissa Mathison
Producer: Barbara De Fina
Composer: Philip Glass
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Reviews
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.
Comment
01/17/08
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
12/20/06
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.
11/03/06
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06/24/06
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.
04/09/05
Scorsese skillfully indulges his propensity for obsessive detail. Visually, the direction is varied and exhilarating
07/01/04
Though a meditative, introspective film, Scorsese's distinctive techniques cause Kundun to pulse with life under its calm surface.
10/23/03
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05/22/03
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11/06/02
Top Critic
Kundun is original, moving, inspiring -- and one of the best movies of the year.
10/15/02
'Filmed with the approval of the 14th Dalai Lama himself, Kundun is reverential to a fault...and that fault is the film's biggest weakness.'
08/01/02
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.
06/05/02
Top Critic
Memorable mainly for its moral message about the courage it takes to adhere to the Buddhist principle of nonviolence in the face of so much suffering.
03/02/02
Careful and respectful, it is everything a movie about the Dalai Lama should be except dramatically involving.
02/14/01
Top Critic
The film itself is great-looking with beautiful cinematography by Roger Deakins, editing by Thelma Schoonmaker and direction by one of the all-time greats, Martin Scorcese.
01/01/01
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• Kundun at Rotten Tomatoes
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