Windhorse

The best film so far this year for me (now showing at filmfestival Rotterdam) If you now that film partly secretly, partly shot in Tibet and Nepal.It's much better filmed like the other films like Kundun and Seven years in Tibet. The story of a Tibetan pop star who collaborates with Chinese authorthies, but find herself in a crisis of conscienes when her cousin Pema, a Buddhist nun, is taken prisoner and tortured because of her religious faith.

I can't believe the other comment on this movie! I couldn't disagree more!

This is one of my favourite films of all time!

This movie was so gritty and emotional and gave me a real understanding of the oppression suffered by the Tibetan people on a daily basis.No other movie, in my view, has captured this so well.

Windhorse focuses on the current situation and the lives of young Tibetans. This illustrates that the suffering in Tibet is ongoing. Many other movies about Tibet focus on the military occupation in the 1950's, and many people may thus hold the incorrect opinion that problems in Tibet are just part of history.

This is a very very powerful film.It is made even more powerful by the fact that some footage was filmed in secret in Tibet and smuggled out - a very risky venture!

I give this movie 10 out of 10!

Free Tibet!!

I decided to write a review for this movie because the only one I found here was simply dead wrong. This movie makes an effort to tell some of the realities of life for Tibetans today (actually, ten years ago, but nothing much has changed), and to do so with a degree of realism seldom found. To do so, the producer decided to film scenes in Tibet surreptitiously. Was there any point to that? Indeed -- this is a movie that speaks to Tibetans worldwide, and having actual footage of their country in it means a lot. I have been in Tibet, and I can tell the difference between real footage of Lhasa and faked scenes.

This is not a movie that you watch on a lazy evening for entertainment. It is sad, sometimes brutal, and it left me with a terrible sense of hopelessness about the long-term fate of the Tibetans left in Tibet (although it also made me feel hopeful about Tibetan expatriates). But it is a movie that tells a truth that needs telling, especially today, when we have all forgotten what Communist China is really like.

After reading several external reviews for this film, I decided to see this film with three friends (age 35 - 50s). We agreed that it was well acted and filmed. However, we felt somewhat shattered afterwards. The brutal beating of the Buddhist nun is not pleasant. This is not a feel-good happy film. The Chinese are certainly the villains, and the story line is fairly predictable. If you are attracted to political films, or want to bolster your feelings about the terrible plight of the Tibetan people, or just want an insight into a slice of Tibetan life, then go see this film. It is a powerful film with a strong message.

One small criticism is that we did not believe that in 1997 a Chinese government-sponsered pop singer would be singing about Chairman Mao; Mao was given up long ago, right?

The film begins and ends with a lovely spiritual message about 'windhorse prayers'. This seems to be the only hope that the film gives for Tibet.

Director Paul Wagner takes the heart of the story to Tibet, a country torn to shreds under the repressed rule of the Chinese. We already know what goes on behind closed doors but are reaffirmed by the brutality these humble Tibetans face through the lives of three children who grow up and each taking a different path in fighting the repressers in one form or another. I'm sure there will be plenty more tales coming out of Tibet.