FILM REVIEW -- Scorsese Creates Feast For Senses in `Kundun' / Film explores Dalai Lama's spirituality amid violent unrest

KUNDUN: Historical drama. Starring Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Tencho Gyalpo, Tsewang Migyur Khangsar, Gyatso Lukhang. Directed by Martin Scorsese. (PG-13. 135 minutes. At the Regency.)

That said, it may not be for everybody. The film's subject -- the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan struggle -- runs counter to the increasingly narrow focus of the American moviegoing public, which puts "Kundun" at risk of being categorized as a novelty.

The movie, which opens today, is the visually detailed biographical story of the 14th Dalai Lama, spiritual and political leader of Tibet, from his early childhood to his forced exile in 1959 at age 24.

APPEALING STAR

With a nearly all-Tibetan cast, the film stars an appealing, assured young actor named Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, who lives in India, as the adult Dalai Lama. Tencho Gyalpo, a member of the Tibetan parliament in exile, plays his mother, and Tibetan American scholar Tsewang Migyur Khangsar was cast as the father.

The story, crafted by screenwriter Melissa Mathison (wife of actor Harrison Ford), introduces the Dalai Lama as a toddler and follows his "discovery" by elders as a reincarnation of the Buddha through to his training by monks and enthronement as Tibet's leader.

It reveals a warmly human figure sometimes balking at his situation, wrestling with ideas and beliefs, occasionally gazing longingly at the world of regular folk. The Dalai Lama, in Tsarong's careful reading of the character, can be a bit remote, or standoffish, or even annoyingly stubborn.

"Kundun" seems like a curious subject for an American director best known for movies exploring man's violent urges in a brash American landscape. But the odd turn by Scorsese is part of the complex fascination of "Kundun."

In telling the story of the Dalai Lama, or Kundun, Scorsese portrays a man of peace bound in a tight brotherhood of monks, whose life is devoted to the Buddhist ideal of compassion. Yet he stands at the center of one of the most violent assaults on a culture in contemporary times: China's claim and control over Tibet.

The young Mao Zedong is played by Robert Lin as ruthlessly matter-of-fact. Mao's observation that "religion is poison" leaves the Dalai Lama speechless.

FILM FEELS LIKE POEM

"Kundun" is as near a nonverbal movie experience as we're likely to find at theaters. It captures the essentials of an ancient culture and builds to China's brutal invasion, both real and spiritual. But the film is so far from the slam-bang Hollywood approach that it sometimes feels more like a cinematic tone poem than a narrative motion picture.

The cinematography, filled with unexpected movement and odd angles, dazzling costumes, realistic settings and an exceptional score by composer Philip Glass, who used traditional Tibetan vocal and instrumental forms, add up to an extravagant feast of sensations.

Some are so odd to outsiders -- the throaty drone of monks chanting, the hissing trances of an oracle -- that they're almost startling.

All the more remarkable is that the film was created entirely outside of Tibet -- in Morocco. A tangle of mountains, stone monasteries, tall palaces, the entire look and atmosphere of Lhasa, Tibet's capital, were expertly fashioned, complete with weathered texture.

"Kundun" comes amazingly close to catching the thing movies almost never get -- the sensation of man's spiritual life. There is a riot of imagery in this film, and an overwhelming tragedy of violence visited on a seemingly innocent culture. Yet the depiction of Buddhists, including the ornate ritual of their religious-political cultural life, is one of measured calm.

"Kundun" is a film with a surprisingly rich inner life and great moments of stone silence and stillness. Can audiences handle it?