Review of Kundun (1997) by Alex F — 12 Nov 2011

This movie is about Lhamo, the 14th Dali Lama of Tibet that was forced into exile in 1959. He is just a kid and seems to not really understand exactly who he is supposed to be. He seemed to be trying to be who his followers and advisors wanted him to be while wanting desperately to be a kid.

The monks that observed him at an early age determined he was the 14th reincarnated Buddha of Compassion. As WWII ends this Dali Lama is forced to deal with Chinese Communist hostility. The Dali Lama protests the hostility and Mao holds tight to Tibet with military force.

Tibet was violently annexed by China after Mao established Communism. This eventually causes the Dali Lama to flee India. The movie only follows him through to 1959 when he was exiled. The movie leaves you with the feeling that there was much more to his life story than what they showed you.

The film is easy on the eyes and had beautiful cinematography. The movie shows you the world through the eyes of a youngster not a man. For most of his life he was sheltered and pampered while enduring meticulous spiritual training.

It portrays the life of your basic Buddhist that believes in reincarnation and a non-violent way of life. Because the movie shows the early life of the Dali Lama, it seems to show him in more of a spiritual sense and not very humanity sense.

I think that is mainly because he was so young when he was cast into the role of Dali Lama. It was a very good movie but not a great one. I would recommend this movie for the history aspect sense of it.

Like I said it shows the early age and I think it would have been much more interesting if it would have dove a little deeper into the "full" life of this young Dali Lama.