From what little of the man I have seen on tv, his humor, and wisdom was conveyed remarkably well by Mathison's script and the actors chosen for the role. The film maintained its pace from the early years to the Lama as an adult. And how can one not be impressed by the performances he got out of mostly non actors! That alone was amazing. If this had been say, Steven Spielberg's project you would have expected to see some manipulative melodramatics and insincerity. I wholeheartedly concur with the commentator that compared this film to the Last Emperor-despite similar story frames and lengths, this motion picture doesnt drag at all. It signifies that some great news is on its way to knocking on your door soon.
Scorcese really demonstrates here that he is a true film artist and master storyteller. Finding three pennies denotes good fortune. It was also quite moving to observe the devotion of his monks and people. Can't you trust Him Somebody's knocking at your door. 5 Can't you trust Him Somebody's knocking at your door. 4 Jesus calls you, Somebody's knocking at your door Jesus calls you, Somebody's knocking at your door. And they also presented enough of the Buddhist ritual and way of life to show us how alien it is to western religions(the scene where they cut up the body for the vultures comes to mind), though they dont gloss it over by excluding comments about the Lama's isolation and loss of childhood or the corruption surrounding his first Regent. Answer Jesus, Somebody's knocking at your door. I appreciated how they didnt portray the Chinese as simple villians-by including the scene where he dreams the army personnel are explaining to him why they embrace Mao's communism. And yet it showed us how human the child was-laughing as the monks meditated while a rat drank the ritual offerings being frightened in the dark monastery taking on the very great responsibility of leading a truly wise, noble and compassionate religion while being confronted by the threats of the modern world. They did it without succumbing to ostentation, sentimentality, or populist good vs evil film dramatics. While I am no expert on Buddhism, I know enough about it to see how brilliantly Martin Scorcese and Melissa Mathison weaved the core philosophy into this tale of the Dalai Lama's formative years. I was very pleased to discover that this film wasnt the Scorcese dud some of the user comments and critics had suggested it to be.