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That's edutainment >> Scorsese soft-pedals politics in coffee-table Kundun by JOANNE LATIMER
Did someone warn Martin Scorsese that no one knew a stitch about Tibet? Despite the fad in Hollywood to pay activist lip service to the cause? Scorsese, fearful of losing even a single audience member, has directed a Reader's Digest condensed version of history. It's the cinematic equivalent to one of those outsized illustrated Bibles for kids that you can find in the southern United States for over $200. Kundun is less bio-pic and more coffee-table book. But what pictures! As long as there's no expectation of any subtlety in the plot, it's easy to just sit back and let the cinematography work its wonders. Kundun is a beautiful film. Scorsese concentrates all his creative efforts re-enacting the rituals of Tibetan religious life: deep reds and yellows, rich materials, beading, silks and every soft lighting technique you can imagine are at play here. It's like the Buddhist counterpart to Coppola's gorgeous pageantry that tied the spoils and splendors of Mafia life with the riches of the Vatican. In its favour, Kundun doesn't resort to easy outs, plot-wise. Scorsese could've played up the concept of the Dalai Lama as a very lonely boy, but he only suggests it. And he could've really hammered home the fact that the Dalai Lama was crazy about Western-style cars as a boy and was an early film buff--even a budding filmmaker. Can you imagine the film researcher's delight? I fully expected the opening shot to feature an aged, misty-eyed Lama privately screening footage of a besieged Lhasa, followed by flashbacks. The self-referential urge of Hollywood usually takes precedence. But Scorsese sticks close to his subject, following the Dalai Lama's worries for his troubled country. Strangely enough, the attention is so tightly drawn to the Dalai Lama that sometimes the big picture is undermined. No one less than Mao Tse-tung is portrayed in this film, as well as India's Nehru, but they're not given the full treatment. An Oliver Stone approach might not be the answer, but the politics in Kundun are inadvertently soft-peddled at times. In a recent interview in Mother Jones, the Dalai Lama speculated that Americans take interest in Buddhism because Western education tends to develop the brain while neglecting the heart. "Perhaps our teachings seem less religious and more technical, like psychology, so they are easier for secular people to use," he said. The same could be said for Kundun. Opens Friday, Jan. 16. See film listings for showtimes
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No need to bone up on Tibetan history for Kundun. Martin Scorsese's bio-pic on the Dalai Lama starts with an instructive scroll of text that dumbs down the issues for all. And that's where the annoying pedagogy begins.