Producer-director Paul Wagner, an Oscar winner for his 1984 short documentary "The Stone Carvers", makes an auspicious feature debut with this political drama set and partially shot in Tibet. With some of the mostly inexperienced cast requesting their names withheld to discourage Chinese retaliation (pressure from Beijing successfully got the controversial project removed from competition at the 1998 Hawaii Film Festival), "Windhorse" is a one-of-a-kind film with an immediacy lacking in more high-profile Hollywood epics about the troubled mountainous country.
Opening for a week's run at the Nuart, "Windhorse" (in English, Tibetan and Chinese with English subtitles) is raw and documentarylike, but tells a poignant story of three Tibetan cousins in a convincing but fictional plot. On the same day the Los Angeles City Council presented a resolution supporting Tibet, the film was presented Monday at Paramount with the filmmakers in attendance, including star Dadon, who broke into sobs during a singing performance after the screening.
Dolkar (Dadon), Dorjee (Jampa Kelsang) and Pema (name withheld) were children blissfully playing outdoors when their grandfather was summarily executed by Chinese soldiers. Each has fallen different paths as adults, with Dolkar the most ambitious and modern. She longs to have a successful singing career and is encouraged by her Chinese boyfriend Duan-ping (Richard Chang). He arranges an introduction to a powerful politician (Lu Yu) who tests her loyalty by making her record a pro-Maoist anthem.
Dolkar's brother Dorjee is a drinker and vagrant, whose conscience starts to awaken when he befriends a Tibetan-speaking American woman, Amy (Taije Silverman). Much of the footage shot furtively with a Sony mini-DV camera in Lhasa chronicles the pair's wanderings, including a trip to the ruins of a monastery destroyed in 1959. Dorjee, like Dolkar, is shocked and spurred to action by the tragedy of their cousin Pema.
With the actress playing the role delivering a heart-rending performance, the story of Buddhist nun Pema in brief relays the atrocities committed against many followers of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's long-absent spiritual leader and head of state. When the authorities ban the display anywhere or possession of the Dalai Lama's image, a fellow nun is taken away for breaking the rule. In the town square one day, Pema starts to protest and is imprisoned.
Beaten, tortured and sent to her family to die, Pema has enough strength left to record her story on video with the help of Amy. The flashbacks of her ordeal are indeed hellish, while the scheme to get the tape out of the country sets in motion the tense finale. In her own muted but powerful protest, Dolkar walks away from a live TV appearance rather than further endorse the repressive Chinese regime.
The title refers to prayers written on pieces of paper that are thrown to the wind from the tops of mountains. Most of "Windhorse" was filmed in neighboring Nepal, where a low profile was still maintained.
WINDHORSE
Shadow Distribution
Producer-director: Paul Wagner
Co-director: Thupten Tsering
Co-producer: Julia Elliott
Screenwriters: Julia Elliott, Thupten Tsering, Paul Wagner
Executive producer: Ellen Casey Wagner
Director of photography: Steven Schecter
Editors: Paul Wagner, Tony Black
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dolkar: Dadon
Pema: Name Withheld
Dorjee: Jampa Kelsang
Duan-ping: Richard Chang
Mr. Du: Lu Yu
Amy: Taije Silverman
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Opening for a week's run at the Nuart, "Windhorse" (in English, Tibetan and Chinese with English subtitles) is raw and documentarylike, but tells a poignant story of three Tibetan cousins in a convincing but fictional plot. On the same day the Los Angeles City Council presented a resolution supporting Tibet, the film was presented Monday at Paramount with the filmmakers in attendance, including star Dadon, who broke into sobs during a singing performance after the screening.
Dolkar (Dadon), Dorjee (Jampa Kelsang) and Pema (name withheld) were children blissfully playing outdoors when their grandfather was summarily executed by Chinese soldiers. Each has fallen different paths as adults, with Dolkar the most ambitious and modern. She longs to have a successful singing career and is encouraged by her Chinese boyfriend Duan-ping (Richard Chang). He arranges an introduction to a powerful politician (Lu Yu) who tests her loyalty by making her record a pro-Maoist anthem.
Dolkar's brother Dorjee is a drinker and vagrant, whose conscience starts to awaken when he befriends a Tibetan-speaking American woman, Amy (Taije Silverman). Much of the footage shot furtively with a Sony mini-DV camera in Lhasa chronicles the pair's wanderings, including a trip to the ruins of a monastery destroyed in 1959. Dorjee, like Dolkar, is shocked and spurred to action by the tragedy of their cousin Pema.
With the actress playing the role delivering a heart-rending performance, the story of Buddhist nun Pema in brief relays the atrocities committed against many followers of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's long-absent spiritual leader and head of state. When the authorities ban the display anywhere or possession of the Dalai Lama's image, a fellow nun is taken away for breaking the rule. In the town square one day, Pema starts to protest and is imprisoned.
Beaten, tortured and sent to her family to die, Pema has enough strength left to record her story on video with the help of Amy. The flashbacks of her ordeal are indeed hellish, while the scheme to get the tape out of the country sets in motion the tense finale. In her own muted but powerful protest, Dolkar walks away from a live TV appearance rather than further endorse the repressive Chinese regime.
The title refers to prayers written on pieces of paper that are thrown to the wind from the tops of mountains. Most of "Windhorse" was filmed in neighboring Nepal, where a low profile was still maintained.
WINDHORSE
Shadow Distribution
Producer-director: Paul Wagner
Co-director: Thupten Tsering
Co-producer: Julia Elliott
Screenwriters: Julia Elliott, Thupten Tsering, Paul Wagner
Executive producer: Ellen Casey Wagner
Director of photography: Steven Schecter
Editors: Paul Wagner, Tony Black
Color/stereo
Cast:
Dolkar: Dadon
Pema: Name Withheld
Dorjee: Jampa Kelsang
Duan-ping: Richard Chang
Mr. Du: Lu Yu
Amy: Taije Silverman
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/26/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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