Martin Scorses's "Kundun"

Wednesday October 24 at 7:30 p.m.

Kundun is a 1997 film written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the life and writings of the Dalai Lama, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet. Both Scorsese and Mathison (along with several other members of the production) were banned by the Chinese Government from ever entering Tibet as a result of making the film.

The name "Kundun" is a title by which the Dalai Lama is addressed.

At the beginning of the film the two-year old boy (Tenzin Yeshi Paichang) at his rural birth place in Amdo is visted by the searching lamas and undertakes a test by the Lama of Sera (Geshi Yeshi Gyatso) to confirm his identity as the reborn Buddha of Compassion.

Except for brief sequences in China and India, the film is set entirely in Tibet. It begins with the search for the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Following a vision by Reting Rinpoche (the regent of Tibet) several lamas disguised as servants discover the location of a promising candidate: a child born to a poor herding family near the Chinese border.

These and other lamas administer a test to the child in which he must select from various objects the ones that belonged to the previous Dalai Lama. The child passes the test; he and his family are brought to Lhasa, where he will be installed as Dalai Lama when he comes of age.

During the journey, the child becomes homesick and frightened, but he is comforted by Reting, who tells him the story of the first Dalai Lama -- whom the lamas referred to as "Kundun". The story is touching, but it is also intended to show the interconnectedness of all incarnations of the Dalai Lama up to and including the child himself.

As the film progresses, the boy matures both in age and learning. Following a brief power struggle in which Reting is imprisoned and dies, the Dalai Lama begins taking a more active role in governance and religious leadership.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communists, recently victorious in their revolution, are proclaiming Tibet to be a traditional part of China following the incorporation in 1710 into Qing Dynasty and successive recognition by Western governments of China's sovereignty over Tibet [1] and expressing their desire to reunify it with the motherland. Eventually, despite Tibet's pleas to the United Nations and the United States for intervention, China re-incorporated Tibet.

The Chinese were initially helpful, but when the Tibetans resist communist reorganization and re-education of their society as well as the agricultural reform to redistribute lands to ex-slaves, the Chinese became oppressive in the eyes of the many.

Following a series of claimed atrocities suffered by his people the Dalai Lama resolves to meet with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, forced by circumstances and his beliefs to take this great risk. However, during their face-to-face meeting on the final day of the Dalai Lama's visit, Mao makes clear his view that "religion is poison" and that the Tibetans are "poisoned."

Upon his return to Tibet, the Dalai Lama learns of even more awful horrors perpetrated against his people, who have by now repudiated their treaty with China and begun guerrilla action against the Chinese. Finally, after the Chinese make clear their intention to kill him, the Dalai Lama is convinced by his family and his Lord Chamberlain to flee to India.

After consulting the oracle about the proper escape route, the Dalai Lama and his staff put on disguises and slip out of Lhasa under cover of darkness. During an arduous journey, throughout which they are pursued by the Chinese, the Dalai Lama becomes very ill and experiences several visions of the past and future. Finally, the party makes it to a small mountain pass on the Indian border. As the Dalai Lama walks to the guard post, an Indian guard approaches him, salutes, and inquires: "May I ask, are you the Lord Buddha?" The Dalai Lama replies with the film's final line: "I think that I am a reflection, like the moon on water. When you see me, and I try to be a good man, you see yourself."

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