Think of it as an epic poem, in which Scorsese's swirling, headlong baroque camera searches paradoxically for the stillness at the meditative heart of Buddhism. [22 December 1997, p. 86]Read Full Review »
90
Time: Richard Corliss
This is rapture in pictures. [22 December 1997, p. 81]Read Full Review »
80
Salon.com: Charles Taylor
Kundun, which was written by Melissa Mathison ("E.T.") from interviews conducted with the Dalai Lama, doesn't make you greedy for its images the way some gorgeous films do. It allows you to drink each one in tranquilly.Read Full Review »
It provides a deep spirituality, but denies the Dalai Lama humanity; he is permitted certain little human touches, but is essentially an icon, not a man.Read Full Review »
70
The New York Times: Stephen Holden
It's all very beautiful, not to mentioned high-minded. But the loftiness comes at a sacrifice.Read Full Review »
70
Washington Post: Desson Thomson
May not be the ultimate word on the Tibetan situation, or even the Dalai Lama, but its heart seems to be in the right place; and it's entertaining enough to give audiences an emotional sense of the story. [16 January 1998, p.N32]Read Full Review »
70
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Kenneth Turan
A stunningly beautiful object offered in tribute to a holy man, a gorgeous film that is nevertheless burdened by the defects of its virtues. Careful and respectful, it is everything a movie about the Dalai Lama should be except dramatically involving.Read Full Review »
70
Slate: David Edelstein
The music ties together all the pretty pictures, gives the narrative some momentum, and helps to induce a kind of alert detachment, so that you're neither especially interested nor especially bored. Perhaps that's a state of Buddhist enlightenment.Read Full Review »
63
ReelViews: James Berardinelli
Most of the film is dull and soporific. Breathtaking photography without emotional involvement can take an audience only so far.Read Full Review »
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