Kundun - The Movie

Kundun - The Movie

I think I have a new favorite movie! Kundun. 

As I mentioned in an earlier blog I have been on a Tibetan and Nepalese movie kick and it started with Kundun. I had never seen the movie before, I don't know how I missed seeing it since it is a Martin Scorsese film and it came out in 1997. But, it is my new favorite.

If you haven't seen this film yet, I highly recommend watching it. The story tells what happened in Tibet from 1937 to 1959. It starts with the Tibetan monks searching for the 14th Dalai Lama. They are looking for a young child, the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. They find a young boy near the Chinese boarder after one of the monks who is the regent of Tibet has a vision. The boy and his family move to Potala Palace in Lahasa where his begins his life as the Dalai Lama. 

The first half of the movie was amazing. The little boy is so cute and plays the character role so perfectly. In many other movies about the young Buddha, the character is so serious and mature for a child. But, I found myself actually laughing out loud at his actions and responses. I think one of my favorite scenes is when the boy runs into the room during lunch and starts grabbing food from all the plates. He takes a mouthful of pork and the other boys tells him, eating pork will cloud your mind. So the young Dalai Lama take a whole hard boiled egg and crams it in his mouth and again the other boy says, eating eggs are also bad for you. Right at that point his mother walks in and the young Dali Lama can't even close his mouth because the hard boiled egg is so large. The boy who played the young Dalai Lama actually reminded me of one of the kids I used to teach, especially in this scene. 

As the boy grows older he begins to take an active role as a leader. At the time in China, Chairman Mao Zedong is wanting Tibet to join China. In a few scenes the Dalai Lama goes to Beijing or Peking as it was called then, to meet with Mao Zedong. The portrayal of Mao Zedong, the office, the meetings are still what China looks like today. When the Dalai Lama was driving up to meet Mao Zedong, the children who were lined up singing, that is exactly what events still look like here. All school kids still wear the same scarves. Later the scenes back in Tibet when the Chinese have entered, the voices over the speakers just gave me chills. 

I was also told the the Dalai Lama was involved with writing the screen play with the writer and it may have taken more than 6 years to write! wow!

It is an amazing movie. The scenes in Tibet were amazing with the mountains and landscape. But, for me I love all of the jewelry! If you watch the film keep an eye out for all of the mala necklaces. If you notice at the very start the tiger eye mala necklace. The young Dalai Lama even takes the mala as he shouts Mine! That is the mala that the Dalai Lama actually uses, tiger eye 108 mala necklace. Take a look at the monks or even people in the background, nearly everyone has a mala, either around their neck, wrist or using it in their hands. 

The scenes that took place in Tibet the characters earrings were amazing! The earrings were huge with lots of turquoise and coral. For me this aspect of the movie was really inspiring and makes we want to get to work and create some new mala designs. 

 watch it! I promise you won't be disappointed!