Movie Night: Kundun

Tuesday, May 67:00pm – 9:30pm

Join us for an evening with the Dalai Lama!

This
Martin Scorsese film drama detailing the Dalai Lama's life story was in
development for seven years, with the Dalai Lama having input into the
14 screenplay drafts by Melissa Mathison. With four actors portraying
the Dalai Lama at different ages, Scorsese's chronicle begins in 1933
with the death of the 13th Dalai Lama. Born in a remote area, the new
Dalai Lama (seen at ages two and five in early sequences) is observed by
monks who determine that he is the 14th reincarnation of the Buddha of
Compassion. In 1944 the Dalai Lama uses newsreels and Western magazines
to study WWII events, and as the war ends, he is forced to deal with
Chinese Communist aggression. Protests from the Dalai Lama in 1949 are
ignored as Mao (Robert Lin) maintains a military stranglehold on Tibet,
eventually forcing the Dalai Lama to flee to Dharmsala, India.

With a $28 million budget, Scorsese re-created Tibet's tragedy by filming in south-central Morocco with a cast of nonprofessional Tibetan actors. Second unit work took place at locations in Idaho and British Columbia. Avant-garde composer Philip Glass contributed a score with hypnotic, ritualistic overtones.