Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Martin Scorsese managed to stir up more controversy with this one. Based upon the life of the current Dalai Lama, it is a remarkable film in showing what tyranny can do to a nation and people, and yet, they have managed to survive.

I was fortunate enough to see this film in a very large theatre, without the megaplex annoyance to deal with, so had an incredible introduction to it. The first images we see are that of a mandala, a meditational tool and art form of a circle containing as many or as few objects as the designers wish, painstakingly created by hand, using colored sands to form fragile, transitory art. It also represents the changing world around us, how it can vanish in an instant.

That's the underlying theme of this film. We start with the childhood of the current Dalai Lama, as a small child on his parent's farm in windswept, isolated Tibet. One day, a visitor, a lama (a Buddhist monk of some stature) comes to stay for a night. For young Norbu, he is a curiosity, and when the man returns some time later, the child sees an array of objects set out in front of him. One by one he picks up the items, crying, "This is mine! This is mine!" So prophecies and oracles revealed, and the child is soon taken away, to live his life in distant Lhasa, for he is the reincarnated Dalai Lama, the human embodiment of the Buddha.

We watch him grow up, still encased in prayer and ritual, but bit by bit, the outside world begins to creep in, through magazines and film, and then a more terrible threat, the Chinese, begin to appear, and turn Tibet into an annex of China. The meetings with Chairman Mao are chilling to watch, with the viewer feeling growing unease, that despite the friendly gesture, danger is lurking.

It's a gorgeous film to see, filled with images of childhood and adolescence. Without preachiness, Scorsese shows us that the Dalai Lama is not a tyrant or oppressor, as the Communist Chinese would have us believe, but a man of unique and deep compassion and humanity. Scorsese received a great deal of opposition from the mainland Chinese government when this was released. It has also awakened a few western eyes to the turmoil in that isolated land; the images of destruction and oppression are real and shocking.

For someone who is not at all versed in Buddhism, this was an excellent introduction to some of the tenets of that faith. I came away from it with a deep respect for the man who was forced to choose between living in exile and betraying his own people.

Excellent direction, cinematography, score by Philip Glass, and casting. For those of you who are interested in such things, Tibetans were cast for the various parts of the film, with the sister of the Dalai Lama in the role of his mother.

If you enjoyed this, you might find the similarly themed Little Buddha of interest. Suitable for children of 13 and older, but unless they're interested in the subject, they might find it very slow going.


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older