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Martin Scorsese (Courtesy: Getty Images)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

It’s a known fact that Martin Scorsese is one of America’s most prolific directors — and one who has proven to be inspired by his birthplace of New York City as well as other places up and down the East Coast on numerous occasions. With Silence set to be released on December 23 (with a wider release in January 2017), will this filmmaker see success with a film leaving behind this iconic backdrop?

Stephen Galloway, The Hollywood Reporter’s executive editor of features, questioned in a recent chat with this site’s namesake, Scott Feinberg, whether or not Scorsese — in all his years of making movies — had ever made a great film that had left these settings behind.

Of Scorsese’s lengthy résumé — which, before Silence, contains 23 feature-length movies — the majority have been set in either New York City or somewhere on the East Coast.

"Kundun" is billed "A Martin Scorsese picture", not "A Martin Scorsese film", the usual protocol for industry credits. In this case, the billing is acutely accurate.

"Kundun", a biographical story of the 14th Dalai Lama, is essentially a picture, albeit a finely woven, intricately colored piece. In short, this film is so carefully composed, so reverentially modulated, so diffidently respectful in its treatment of the Dalai Lama, that it comes across as a National Geographic pictorial with music. You leave the theater feeling you've spent two hours looking over and over again at the same five pages of magazine.

Undeniably, those who worship at the altar of Scorsese -- line up all the critics -- may find "Kundun" serene and beatific, but the unordained will find it stagnant and tedious. First-weekend platform blessings will surely bestow bounteous reverence on Scorsese and the film, but come expansion and widening, Buena Vista will surely find itself acceding to Buddhism's wise dictum -- never appear prideful.

In this case, that posture would be prompted not entirely by wisdom but, more pointedly, by the film's disappointing performance. To be fair -- and we mean no condescension here -- this thoughtfully written and composed work would surely delight viewers of the History Channel or might even work well on A&E's "Biography" series during, say, Religious Leaders Week (or, with the Mao Tse-tung incursion, during Mass Murderers Week).

In Melissa Mathison's intelligent narrative, we're brought into the physical and spiritual world of the 14th Dalai Lama as Mathison charts his growth from age 2 1/2fraction! to his flight from Tibet when his country was overrun and brutalized in 1950 by Mao's dragoons. During these years of growth, Mathison diligently parallels the Dalai Lama's emotional, physical and spiritual growth. As she's done before in her wonderful family scriptings ("E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial", "The Indian in the Cupboard"), Mathison invigorates and expands the storytelling with playful grace and down-to-earth maturity.

Unfortunately, expositional monotony seeps in -- the teachings of Buddha, historical explanation, cultural edification -- and in certain sections, the storytelling drones into a snooze, as if the school librarian has taken over.

Since you already know not only the current status of this story -- the Dalai Lama has not been able to return to Tibet since the Red boot still has its murderous heel on the peaceable Tibetans -- but have been served a veritable feast of Dalai Lama movies in the recent past, we will spare further discussion of the story, the philosophy and the political realities. Indeed, pick "Dalai Lama" for a thousand if you go on "Jeopardy!" over the holidays and get matched up against a mainstreamer who doesn't know the Dalai Lama from a Hare Krishna.

The performances are uniformly solid, especially Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong's thoughtful and steadfast portrayal of the Dalai Lama as an adult, and Tencho Gyalpo's performance as the Dalai Lama's mother is refreshingly vivacious.

As the sociopathic, mass-murdering Mao, Robert Lin brings an epicene aura to the homicidal thug that is both disquieting and interesting. Admittedly, our up-close-and-personal vantage of Mao has never been closer or more revealing than one of those big, knuckleheaded Commie banners of him. We're clueless as to Mao's personal style. Whether Lin's portrayal is accurate or not, we commend him at least for inspiring us to sit up straight and interrupt our slumbers.

Certainly there is much to praise in this conscientious undertaking. Visually and aurally, "Kundun" is a consummate celebration. Scorsese and his Oscar-heavy technical team have created a geographically spiritual marvel. Roger Deakins' cinematography is swathed in rich Bertoluccian tones and framed with a majesty so pristine, you hope he and Scorsese will team up some day for a western in Monument Valley, Ariz. It's truly a stunning visual work, majestic and earthy all at once.

The film's most transcendent virtues, however, are found in Philip Glass' richly layered score. Surging undercurrents of string and abrasive, natural percussion are capped by inspiring voices of trumpetry and woodwind. Pencil in Deakins and Glass for possible Oscar noms and similarly anticipate a strong vote for costumer Dante Ferretti for the sumptuous, indigenous clothing.

KUNDUN

Buena Vista

Touchstone Pictures Presents

A Cappa/De Fina production

A Martin Scorsese picture

Producer: Barbara De Fina

Director: Martin Scorsese

Screenwriter: Melissa Mathison

Based on the life story of the Dalai Lama

Director of photograhy: Roger Deakins

Production designer/costume designer: Dante Ferretti

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker

Music: Philip Glass

Executive producer: Laura Fattori

Co-producer: Melissa Mathison

Casting: Ellen Lewis

Associate producer: Scott Harris

Visual effects: Dream Quest Images

Sound mixer: Clive Winter

Color/stereo

Cast:

Dalai Lama (Adult): Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong

Dalai Lama (Age 12): Gyurme Tethong

Dalai Lama (Age 5):

Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin

Dalai Lama (Age 2): Tenzin Yeshi Paichang

Mother: Tencho Gyalpo

Lobsang (5-10): Tenzin Topjar

Father: Tsewang Migyur Khangsar

Takster: Tenzin Lodoe

Tsering Dolma: Tsering Lhamo

Mao Tse-tung: Robert Lin

Running time -- 128 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...