ダライ・ラマ14世の苦難と波乱に満ちた半生をマーティン・スコセッシ監督が描き出した壮大な精神探求のスペクタクル。チベットのとある寒村にやってきた高僧。彼らの目的は数年前に逝去したダライ・ラマ13世の生まれ変わりを探すことだったが……
製作費: $28,000,000 (42億円)
興行収入: $5,684,789 (9億円)
推定収支: $-22,315,211 (-33億円)
※製作費・興行収入はTMDBのデータを参照しています。収支は(興行収入 - 製作費)で算出したFindKey独自の推定値であり、広告宣伝費や諸経費は含まれません (1ドル=150円換算)。
監督: マーティン・スコセッシ
脚本: Melissa Mathison
音楽: Philip Glass
制作: Barbara De Fina / Laura Fattori
撮影監督: Roger Deakins
If anyone were ever to question the undoubted skill of cinematographer Roger Deakins, then they need only watch this beautifully crafted story of the youth of the 14th Dalai Lama. Filmed in the Moroccan Atlas mountains, for obvious reasons, Martin Scorsese provides us with a lavish, colourful and thought-provoking postulation on just how this young man was selected, after a four year search, to become the venerated spiritual leader of a peaceful nation of farmers and monks, buried deep in the Himalaya mountains. The boy was but two, but already there was a fear amongst these folks for whom time has largely stood still, that their neighbour has designs on their homeland. As the boy ages into youth, those threats manifest themselves more practically and by the end, the man has little choice but to embark on a perilous journey to safety in India. The actors are perfect for their roles - the three iterations of the principal character morph seamlessly together as he must learn to tread a very thin line and attain the level of political acuity necessary to deal with the disarming, but ruthless, Chairman Mao (Robert Lin). Philip Glass scores well too - grand and intimate orchestrations complimenting well the beautifully coloured costumes and the rising political temperature. It does take it's time, but it is a subtly delivered hypothesis, this. It suggests more than it imposes on history and that makes for a more complete film to enjoy. Sure it has a message, quite a few as it happens, but they are there for us to develop ourselves - Scorsese doesn't tell us what to think. He invites us. Deakins was nominated for an Oscar for this, and to appreciate that fully then do try to see it on a big screen. In any case, it's well worth a watch offering plenty of food for thought.
