Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion

By Ellen Fox

Special to the Chicago Tribune 12/10/03

2-1/2 stars (out of 4)

"Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" is the rare documentary about oppression that doesn't leave you - doesn't seem to want to leave you - with your fist in the air. Instead, you feel puzzled, perhaps even a bit infuriated, because you don't feel more infuriated.

The film's subject matter is, after all, the destructive, half-century-long occupation of Tibet by China. But the film itself is such a measured primer of talking heads and footage - a broad, slick Tibet 101 - that it seems better suited to the classroom than the big screen, despite its Himalayan scenery and rustic colors.

The film seeks only to educate, and we are educated. So? While this characteristic calm in the face of devastation is perhaps the Free Tibet movement's greatest power, it might also be what keeps it from being truly effective. Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film trips along from Tibet's embrace of Buddhism and the burgeoning of its monastery complex, through the ascent of the Dalai Lama and the "liberation" of Tibet by Chinese forces, to the suppressed protests and threatening influx of more and more Chinese to the region.

In some effort toward balance, there are a few sound bites from Chinese officials (looking all the more robotic in contrast to the earthy, mystical monks and nuns on
screen), who state the party line that Tibet wasn't an independent nation when China rolled in. There is also the admission that, far from being a utopia, the Tibet that
once was had its share of poverty and corruption.

But the evidence of Chinese brutality remains overwhelming, in the video footage, torture devices and testimonies that have made their way out, and in the rubble of
the monasteries (some 6,000 of them) that have been destroyed within the last few decades.

Every time your ire is raised over some atrocity - the cattle prods, the abduction of the Panchen Lama (just a boy) by the Chinese government - someone reminds you of the patient, compassionate nature of the Tibetan way. If the footage of the mandala ceremony (a ritual in which a sand sculpture is painstakingly created, then destroyed) is anything to go on, destruction and suffering are simply something to be endured.

All that's really left to get your dander up is the narration of Sheen, whose voice is reminiscent of something you might hear in a planetarium; voiceovers by such actors as Susan Sarandon; and the brief footage of the kind of consciousness-raising rock concerts and events where this film is likely to be screened.

There is some mention of the complicit role that we Wal-Mart-happy Americans play in Tibet's hardships, but that, too, is touched on only briefly. The strongest impression the film leaves is of the Tibetan commitment to nonviolence, despite the calls of some for stronger action, and perhaps even friendship, someday, with the Chinese.

But if a positive attitude is everything, if Robert Thurman (father of Uma) knows all about Tibetan genocide and can still give a dashing interview, if the Dalai Lama
himself seems like he's not doing so bad given the circumstances, it's hard not to wonder if one's limited supply of attention would be better spent on some other
movement, perhaps one whose representatives and survivors aren't so mellow? Then again, it's a heck of a lot more appealing than terrorism.

"Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion"
Directed and photographed by Tom Peosay; written by Sue Peosay, Victoria Mudd; edited by Kathryn Himoff; music by Jeff Beal with performances by Nawang Khechog; produced by Mudd, Tom Peosay, Sue Peosay, Mario Florio. Narrated by Martin Sheen, with voiceovers by Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Ed Harris, Frank Christopher, Edward Edwards, Shirley Knight and Lynn Marta. An Artistic License Films release; opens Friday, Dec. 12. Running time: 1:44. No MPAA rating.