# Kundun (1997)

### reviewed by
Omar Odeh

"In this country you have to change quickly, and all the time; otherwise people say, 'You already did that...Next!'. I want to reply 'Wait, wait...it seems like the same film, but it's not..."

    -Martin Scorcese

The subject of the much anticipated, new Scorcese film, Kundun, is not clear. This is not a liability. The most that can be said is that it is a cinematic description of events surrounding the life of the 14th Dalai Lama. Unlike, previous films by the director (Taxi Driver, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore), however, anything beyond this description is mere speculation. I was not sure what to make of Scorcese's last film Casino (something more than Goodfellas but less than Raging Bull). Kundun, unlike Casino, whos formal merits are undeniable but that somehow never leaves the realm of conventional cinema, transcends previous elements of Scorcese's style by using devices familiar to the director in wholly new ways. The voiceover is only the most obvious example which in this film is an accomplished and integrated layer of the film as opposed to a crutch or support to an overburdened narrative as it has been elsewhere in Scorcese's films. The director has offered an unlikely film, to say the least, and one that is a happy indication that he is not through astonishing us.

The film has been faulted in various sources for its lack of dramatic cohesion. That Kundun does not benefit from the deft plotting and eerie characterization of a film like Taxi Driver is undeniable, however, to cite this as a fault seems short-sighted. By his own admission, there was little interest in approaching Kundun, along classical lines; the dramaturgy of the film is particularly loose, breaking from the narrative for long periods of time for the Dalai Lama (the title character) to comtemplate and debate key decisions with his advisors or for Scorcese to simply present moody montages. Formally, Scorcese employs a number of motifs including shoes and ancient art (the sand Mandala) layered with a nearly constant use of music. The result is not the type of film we have come to expect but a type of sound-poem instead. A film as concerned about conveying mood, intention and meaning as it is with generating pace.

The careful craftsmanship that has produced Kundun is evidenced by the approach Scorcese took to the film. The very first translations of the concept came not in the way of a conventional storyboard but rather as loose sketches or visual ideas. The precise plot thrusts were left deliberately, vague a the director focussed his preparatory work on how best to convey mood through the visual construction of the film as well as the cinematography. DOP Roger Deakins has credited Scorcese with paying particular attention to how the his lighting would serve as one of the key players in any scene. (There is an excellent account of the circumstances surrounding the photography and production of Kundun in the February issue of Americain Cinematographer). That all this was achieved on a relatively low budget is testimony to the team's technical mastery.

It seems clear that this film is destined for a Western audience: the actors all speak in english (albeit somewhat awkwardly) and although, the cinematic merits in and of themselves are reason enough to see Kundun, there is little, thematically, in the film that an Eastern audience would not already be aquainted with. This being the case Scorcese's strategy seems particularly well chosen. In opposition to the necessary perversions that come with this territory (not using the mother tongue, etc..) the style of the film in terms of the narrative strategy and formal arrangements employed remains true to the culture being portrayed. The serene beauty and meditative tone of Kundun are a more responsible treatment of Eastern themes than, for instance Schindler's List is of Germany during WWII. In other words by confronting the viewer with a film that falls outside the realm of conventional cinema Scorcese compenstaes in some ways for other necessary distortions. The result is both more legitimate and responsible than a film like Schindler's List that attempts to cloak its deceptions in more duplicity; the equivocal, lowest comon denominator, button pushing, that is the Hollywood continuity style.

As usual, the fact that great films such as this receive only a pitiful release here in Ottawa must be opined. In fact if I am not mistaken Kundun's first-run here in the capital lasted 2 weeks and consisted of one screen at the Capitol Square cinema (one of the marginally better venues we have). It is both depressing and surprising that this was the case since it is largely a reflection of popular tastes. It is a shame that even Scorcese's stature was not enough to keep the film around.

    -Omar Odeh
    http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/3920

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