Kundun (1997)

11 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:

Absolutely wonderful

Stuart from Birmingham, 29th July, 2005

I have seen this film several times, its one of those films you can watch over and over again. Kundun is the story of the 14th Dali Lama, the most peaceful, truthful human being on this earth. The story follows how he is discovered then goes through his teachings and how he tried to keep the chinese out of tibet. Also it covers the german guy that taught him many ways of the west. Martin Scorsese has directed this film showing how the buddist monks live and how the dali lama was brought up. You just have to see this film to learn.

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7 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Give peace a chance

mgee from glamorgan, 13th September, 2004

This is a remarkable film that illustrates beautifully the struggles of a nation and its people in an ever-changing world.

The film charts the life of the 14th Dalai Lama and his rise to lead the people of Tibet in a struggle with neighbours China. There are imaginative dream sequences, a soundtrack of disturbing Eastern music, colourful Buddhist ceremonies and the continual thread – Tibet’s fear of losing their heritage to domineering Communist China.

It makes you angry and bewildered how the rest of the world could sit back and allow a sophisticated, spiritual and peace loving nation be over-ruled by its bullying neighbour. This is a deeply thought provoking film that achieves more than just entertainment.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

That Radio Times Review Misses The Point

McClennan from , 12th April, 2006

Okay, it's a biopic about the Dali Lama, but it's done by Scorcese and I found it to be quite an underrated little film. A story which I didn't really know that much about, it was more than interesting to watch as the Nepalese gradually crumble under the threat of voilence from the Chinese. I didn't find that the film dragged thanks to a fantastic visual style that evoked many of the visual landscape/people documentaries like Baraka, Koyaanisqatsi and many photographs of such. It was that photography that really lifted this film over and above what I was expecting and not even yet another dreadful Philip Glass score could stop me from enjoying the look of the film. As for the Radio Times review above, the film does give gentle and subtle suggestions that the new Dali Lama was indeed ready to challenge the standard hierachy within Buddism so ignore what it says above because it's for you to judge.

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4 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:

mellow movement

A Customer from cardiff, 9th December, 2004

if you expect a film that tells you all about buddhism, or the political events around chinas invasion of tibet, look elsewhere. If you think you'd enjoy a couple of hours portrayal of beautiful temples, rich ceremonies and fantastic himalayan landscapes then this could well be the film for you. I don't imagine life over there ever moves particularly fast and neither does this film, but if you're in a meditative mood, i can't think of anything more relaxing.

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Kundun--great film

A Customer from Leamington Spa, 14th August, 2008

This is a beautiful film of Tibetan culture and the early history of the 14th Dalai Lama. I have been wondering whether to see it for years and was not disappointed.

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Great story, poorly told

A Customer from UK, 27th July, 2008

I didn't know the history of the un-liberation of Tibet and what happened prior to the Dalai Lama's flight from the country into exile, so I found the story interesting and compelling. Unfortunately I was very disappointed by this film. I was most surprised to learn at the closing credits that it was directed by Martin Scorsese, as throughout I'd been thinking it must be the work of someone fresh out of film school (and having only just scraped a pass at that). The quality of the acting, with a few exceptions, is the worst I have seen in any 'professional' film. Using non-professionals is no excuse, good direction and good casting should get better results than this (compare with Shortbus). The editing is shoddy. Rather than a smooth flow through peaks and troughs of action, it feels disjointed. There are repeated attempts at 'arty' scenes, very few of which are pulled off successfully; most just stick out as if the director has watched Citizen Kane too many times and tried to jazz up a dull film by, well, doing something 'arty'. I can't believe another reviewer has described the direction as 'understated', to me it's massively overstated, repeatedly pulling attention away from what should be a great story to do some over-designed 'look at me!' set-piece. Finally, Philip Glass's soundtrack, to my ears, utterly failed to capture the true essence of Tibetan music. It sounded like a synthetic copy, a bad sample, stripped of its spirituality and shoehorned into a western repetitive style with which it has no connection. Very very disappointing. I hope someone else tells this story, which is a story that needs to be told, and does a better job of it. Only the underlying story and a handful of worthwhile moments saves Kundun from a 1-star rating.

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Very powerful biography

jacklee from from Godalming, 20th April, 2008

A great intoduction to the political background of Tibet and its recent problems with Chins, as well as a biography of the Dali Lama.

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A fitting homage to a most remarkable man

A Customer from Lisburn, Northern Ireland, 28th February, 2008

I've watched this film many times, but each time I've watched it, I've wanted to go back to the start and watch it all over again. It is inexhaustibly fascinating, ravishingly beautiful and deeply moving. Scorsese succeeds in conveying something of the character of this remarkable man, the 14th Dalai Lama, who is arguably the greatest spiritual leader living in the world today. The film shows how a 'new' Dalai Lama was discovered as a young child, how he was tested to prove that he was the Incarnation of the Buddha, and how he was trained for his role as leader of the Tibetan people. There is a terrible poignancy in all this when we remember that these centuries-old traditions may have been observed for the last time. In dream sequences, the film shows the anguish of the Dalai Lama as he contemplates the suffering of his people during the Chinese invasion, and foresees the suffering that lies ahead for them during the long occupation. But such is his compassion that, as another dream sequence reveals, he even understands the terrible hardships that rendered the Chinese people receptive to Communism. After seeing this film for the first time, and realizing the magnitude of the betrayal of Tibet by the international community, which still to this day turns a blind eye to the ongoing destruction of the ancient and unique culture of Tibet by the Chinese, I felt impelled to join 'Free Tibet'. As I watch it now, it serves as a compelling reminder of the atrocities that are still being perpetrated against any Tibetan who remains faithful to his culture and religion, of the continuing imprisonment of the Panchen Lama (captured and abducted by the Chinese when he was only seven years old), and of the extraordinary capacity for forgiveness displayed to us all by the man to whom this film is a fitting homage.

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