Movie Review

'Sun' sheds a lot of light on Tibetan conflict

Thursday, April 01, 2010

New York Post
By V.A. Musetto
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A Still from The Sun Behind The Clouds - Tibet's Struggle For Freedom

"The Sun Behind the Clouds," a movie about the Dalai Lama which opens today in New York, has China's Communist bosses seeing red.

China's leaders were so incensed by the film, screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival in January, that they pulled a Chinese movie, "City of Life and Death," from the event.

Now Film Forum has pulled a switch of its own, canceling a run of "City" and showing "Sun" instead.

The documentary does a superlative job of examining the half-century dispute over Chinese rule of mountainous Tibet.

At the center is the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, who went into exile in India when the Communists took control of his nation in 1959 -- the film's newsreels showing Chinese troops on horseback moving into Tibet are chilling.

The movie also looks at divisions among Tibetans over the 74-year-old holy man's "middle way" plan -- Tibetans would give up calls for independence in exchange for cultural and social autonomy for their land. Beijing has rejected the idea.

Older Tibetans support the Dalai Lama while a younger generation wants nothing less than full independence. Some complain that he didn't join a monthslong protest march to Tibet through India.

The directors, Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam, followed the Dalai Lama for a year, allowing him to state his case at length. They also give vent to exiles on both sides.

The well-made, richly photographed film -- the Tibetan landscape is gorgeous -- doesn't solve what one talking head calls an "epic struggle," but it does put the issues into perspective.