Film Review Kundun

Having taught 6th grade history curriculum this year one of the subjects taught is Buddhism. It is a hard concept to teach when most of our students are visual and auditory learners. Finding this movie helped explain some cultural items that are not explained in the text books. I was unable to show this movie in its entirety due to time constraints so I had to be selective about what scenes were the most important. One of the most important parts was the first couple of minutes of the movie where they are in search of the new Buddha. This movie was not only good because the process of finding the new Buddha but the series of tests that are given to the child and the adjustment period that that child goes through once they find out he is the reincarnation of Buddha. Certain concepts such as the adjustment period and the continous conflict between Tibet and China are excellently portrayed in this movie which I do not consider to be too Hollywoodish.

The movie is rated PG-13 which I thought was odd because I watch it several times and did not recall nudity or any scenes that would be considered too much. However it was during one of the fast forwarding scenes that it hit me, there is a scene where Buddha´s carnal father dies and as it is a custom they perform a small ceremony and they cut his remains into small pieces and feed them to vultures. Overall the students reaction to the selected scenes instilled in them the curiosity to go out and rent the movie to see it in its entirety.