WHO KNEW WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE
unlikely match-up of one of the planet's finest directors, Martin Scorsese with the life story of one of its greatest spiritual teachers, the Dalai Lama? A small masterpiece, it turns out.

Scorsese's sumptuous, gorgeous, powerful telling of the youth, early life and exile from Tibet of the country's Buddhist leader is deeply pleasurable and inspiring on many scores (including the haunting score itself by composer Phillip Glass).

You don't have to know the Dalai Lama's life story to enjoy it. But afterward you will know more-- and it may well ratchet up your disdain of the Chinese government, which has had its hands around the Tibetan people's throats for a half century now.

ON A PURELY VISUAL and technical level, the film is eye candy and soul food. Not since "The English Patient" has such an enthralling succession of scene upon scene of startling beauty and rich-hued colors been put on screen, as Scorsese and cinematographer Roger Deakins track the tale through high mountains, ravishing vistas and ornate temples lit by butter candles.The movie is also a primer in sophisticated camera work and scene composition. A master filmmaker is at work here and it's fun to watch him go. (It's a shame "Kundun" had such a short run in movie houses. While still powerful seen as a video on home TV, its true visual wallop---and Scorcese and Deakins' masterful achievement--can only be completely appreciated on the wide screen.)

Several scenes are jaw-drop amazing. One shows in shorthand the carnage inflicted by the Chinese army, which has killed, tortured and imprisoned hundreds of thousands of Tibetans, indiscriminately---or maybe discriminately--- imprisoning, torturing and slaughtering Buddhist monks and nuns.The scene opens on an aghast young Dalai Lama, then slowly pans back to reveal a few maroon-robed bodies, then more, then more, then---as the camera pulls up into the sky---a surrounding sea of them.

Yet the film is no polemic, it's not an "isn't this awful" documentary even as it remains basically true to the difficult real-life story of the Dalai Lama (an honorific title for Tibet's spiritual and temporal leader that means "Ocean of Compassion"). "Kundun," another title of respect, is closer to the epic film story-telling of David Lean ("Lawrence of Arabia") without the sentimentality. This is the director who made "Raging Bull," "Taxi Driver" and "Goodfellas," after all.

SCORCESE WISELY RESISTED the lure of casting a Western star in this Eastern tale (see Brad Pitt and "Seven Years in Tibet"). The film is the better for it. Mostly Tibetan actors (and some real monks) play out the tale of the 14th Dalai Lama's discovery as an infant, the Chinese army's coming in 1950 and his fleeing into exile to India.

One may quibble with several things. Scorsese's camera is sometimes too jumpy, a la "NYPD Blue." Buddhist teachings on non-violence and karma---the reason why the Dalai Lama forbids armed revolt in Tibet---are never quite made understandable. Nothing actually is spelled out of these teachings except in passing reference or visual shorthand. For those familiar with Dharma teachings or Tibetan cultural practices, this makes the film all the more elegaic. No tedious exposition of what a sand mandala is, what it represents and why such a gorgeous, hand-made object of beauty is swept away by Tibetan monks soon after its completion in such a seemingly cavalier fashion (done to underscore the impermanent nature of all things.)

Yet Scorcese's reticence to explain will no doubt lose some viewers and several critics have faulted it on that score. A friend who saw it---bless her, she took her 10-year-old boy---greatly enjoyed the film, but was flumoxed to understand why the Dalia Lama's father was chopped up and fed to vultures in the graphic sky burial scene (a bit of a primer on Buddhist teachings on impermanence and attachment to the body may have helped here). Another reviewer in my hometown snidely observed that Richard Gere would adore the flick--but the reviewer wondered what non-Buddhists such as himself are to make of what's going on it at times.

VIEWERS SHOULD ALSO NOT EXPECT a 90-mile-per-hour narrative, as Hollywood (and Scorcese himself in his more usual flicks like "Goodfellas") has conditioned us to desire in our movies. "Kundun" is more of a fascinating Mardi Gras parade---what remarkable, eye-catching scene comes next?

That is not to say the film doesn't feature engrossing storytelling moments. Traveling monks come upon the infant Dalai Lama in the Tibetan outback and auspicious signs reveal him to be the reincarnation of the prior Dalai Lama (a supernatural form of spiritual succession specific only to Tibetan Buddhism, by the way). "This is mine!" says the boy, grabbing a bell, after being presented with canes, bells, eyeglasses and other objects to test if he can pick out the last leader's possessions.This discovery is quietly thrilling as eyebrows arch and the elder monks who administer this test realize they have at last found him.The Dalai Lama's hopeful meeting with a young, oily Mao Tse Tung (eerily played by Robert Lin) also packs a punch, knowing the torrent of blood and suffering that will flow as Mao comes of age and hits his real stride as a despot.

THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT HATES this film and tried to pressure Disney---which bankrolled Scorsese---to deep-six it. That hasn't happened. But "Kundun" also doesn't have the push behind it to earn the viewers it deserves. It opened quietly earlier this year, showed briefly in theaters and disappeared quickly. That's a loss in several respects since this glorious film should be witnessed on a broad screen and not squeezed into the scramped confines of a TV set. Yet in whatever shape or form, it should be seen and retains its power, even in the lesser setting. I came home one night to find my wife and and friend had rented it to watch. "Kundun" caught the eye of my eight-year-old son,passing through the living room, who sat down, engrossed, for the rest of the movie. Later, my wife quizzed me about Tibet and the Chinese occupation, hungry for more details and context.

A story in a recent issue of the Buddhist journal "Tricycle" asked "Can Hollywood Save Tibet?" Of course it can't. But viewers who see this film will understand and care more about Tibet's plight. That can only help.

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POETRY:
1) "Sky Burial"

BOOKS:
1) Plowing Through Tibet