Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion
Directed by Tom Piozet.
I think it’s difficult to leave any documentary and not feel more enriched by the experience, more knowledgeable from letting the information wash over you in the form of a large screen and surround-sound. In the case of my viewing Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, I left feeling extremely lucky with my lot in life. We live in Australia. We’re free to practise our own religions or choose not to practise any religion at all. There are no tanks and guns as a backdrop to our everyday scenery. Nobody demolishes our buildings, institutions and art. Such is the case in Tibet and yes, we’ve all heard the slogan ‘Free Tibet’ many times but do we actually know to what extent the Tibetan culture is being destroyed?
Producer-director-cinematographer Tom Peosay has created a spectacular documentary on the situation in Tibet. The footage is immensely personal (he would have had to climb through the Himalayas himself to do this) with striking juxtapositions of Tibetan indigenous religious festivals decorated in ornamental colours with smiles and laughter, and rigid marching Chinese soldiers in brown uniforms with stoic faces. There are interviews with survivors of political prisons (most of whom were monks, simply persecuted for practising Buddhism), insights into Tibetan monasteries and close-up conversations with the Dali Lama. This is ten years of footage. It’s enormous. Watching the film I felt that this was a huge production (and seeing the credits roll, there is backing from some big-name Hollywood actors/activists). The film won the audience award for best documentary at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and at the Bahamas International Film Festival, the Special Jury Award at the Banff Mountain Film Festival and was an Official Selection for the Toronto, Seattle, IFP Los Angeles, Bangkok and Sydney Film Festivals. If you have a social conscience and need to let it bleed every now and again or if you feel the motion of the tides to be unjust because your life is too simple when others are suffering and if you’re simply tired of turning to the news to affirm these things and give you adequate anger-time, forget Israel, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe: go to the Mercury and see how the peaceful struggle works (or fails to work, for that matter). Then find a cozy corner in a café, where you’re safe from that part of the world, and talk about it with a friend.
Heather Taylor Johnson
This Documentary is heart breaking in how it brings light to the plight of the Tibetans. I thought I knew something about the problems of Tibet and why they were as they were, but really I was ignorant of the real effects. This documentary takes the audience from great suffering as we see the Tibetan peoples persecuted and beaten by the Chinese military, to great joy as we see the children that are sent to Darhamsala in India to be looked after and taught their Tibetan ways. As well as the suffering of the Tibetan people, their temples burnt and destroyed, their religion crushed, we also see great scenic views of Tibet and the Himalayas; from the snow-bound peaks to the gently rustling fields of wheat. In this documentary we see what a negative impact China has had on the people of Tibet. The Chinese treat the Tibetans as second-class citizens, the Tibetans are not allowed to practice their religion, nor their culture and must abjure the Chinese immigration. The holy city of Lhasa is filled with Chinese immigrants seeking work from a government that gives tax breaks to those that will move from Mainland China.
The Joyous part of this documentary is to be seen with the indomitable will of his Holiness the Dalai Lama and his people. Exiled to Darhamsala the Dalai Lama strives to bring his people the freedom they seek through non-violent means. We have all seen him at one time or another on the TV talking about the freedom of his people, but have we ever stopped to think about what he is saying? I know I haven’t till I saw this documentary. I won’t lie and say this documentary has no bias, but it does point out one side of the argument that is often not heard: the striving of the Tibetan people to be free. The Tibetans were a free people many years ago, then a buffer state between China and India, all the while they are the children of the mind. I recommend going to see this movie, even if you don’t care about their plight, at least open your eyes and then think about it. This documentary also shows how the Chinese government, as well as depriving the Tibetans of their freedom, they too deprive their own people.
Alex M-G
The Snow Lion is a mythical animal symbolising hope and prosperity for the Tibetan people. This symbol is used as a starting point to frame Tibetan philosophy and illustrate the resultant culture clash with China and, to a lesser extent, the West.
This documentary explores Buddhist philosophy and how it shapes Tibetan life in the context the dispossession and genocide suffered by the Tibetan people as a consequence of Chinese invasion in 1949.
For this reason alone Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion is a fascinating and important film. Together with the compelling footage and witness accounts this is a chilling, confronting cinematic experience.
Images of pristine landscapes and traditional ceremonies are effectively juxtaposed with violent and occasionally brutally graphic footage for powerful emotional impact. Activists, locals, victims of torture, spiritual leaders and representatives of both the Chinese government and Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala are given a voice; contributing to an appreciation of the multifaceted conflict.
The effectiveness of the Dalai Lama’s philosophy of non-violent protest is discussed, as is the implication of the abduction and permanent detention of the Panchen Lama, who will appoint the next Dali Lama. Gendun Choekyi Nyima was abducted in 1995 when he was 6 years old by the Chinese government and his subsequent whereabouts are unknown.
I left the cinema emotionally drained but feeling an urgent need to take action on a conflict that many in The West have largely forgotten. This may be for political reasons, as is documented by reference to American foreign policy, or through ignorance and apathy, the most powerful weapons in China’s arsenal in this conflict.
I cannot recommend too highly that you see this film. Whatever your political views or religion this is a valuable addition to the available information on what is happening in Tibet, with over 9 years of research contributing rare and previously unseen footage.
Marianne Close
