From the C-ville Weekly, Charlottesville, Virginia

Forbidden Footage Goes National

The Anapurna Range of the Himalayas

Windhorse qualified as remarkable even before it hit the screen--local director Paul Wagner shot parts of his fiction film on location in forbidden Tibet. His cast and crew, including many Tibetan dissidents whose names are omitted from the credits for their protection, worked in secret with high-definition video equipment and smuggled out their footage, producing some of the only real pictures of Lhasa, Tibet's holy city, to be seen on American screens. But the truly remarkable achievement of Windhorse is that Wagner and his colleagues refused to be satisfied with breaking new ground. They've brought a riveting story to the screen, full of unforgettable images, mature performances, and dangerous tension.

The title refers to the spirits who carry Tibetans' prayers to the gods with every flap of the ubiquitous prayer flags, and as the story opens, three young children have their faith shaken when Chinese soldiers execute their grandfather. Eighteen years later in Lhasa, brother Dorjee (Jampa Kelsang) is a cynical drunk, sister Dolkar (Dadon) is an aspiring pop singer, and cousin Pema (name withheld) is a Buddhist nun. An edict against displaying pictures of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled religious leader, leads Pema into an impromptu protest in the public marketplace, followed swiftly by her arrest. Meanwhile, Dolkar's Chinese boyfriend is arranging for a live TV special so the beautiful singer can become the poster child for the happy, pro-Communist Tibetan youth of propaganda. And Dorjee is drifting closer to active rebellion, thanks to a dangerous association with an American tourist.

Most of Windhorse's dialogue is subtitled Tibetan and Chinese, and the movie's pace is rhythmic but restless. Both cinematic choices contribute to a refreshing sense that the American audience isn't being patronized by an imposed Western structure to dumbed-down history, which would constitute false notes in the movie's realist framework. More impressively, Wagner expresses a theme worthy of the best artists: the idea that pictures have a unique power to convey the truth. The pictures within Windhorse--secret surveillance cameras on Lhasa's rooftops, Dolkar's star-making broadcast, a testimonial videotape to reveal Pema's ordeal to the world--inevitably lead the viewer to reflect on the pictures that comprise the movie itself, some of which induce goosebumps by their simple factuality.

In some movies with important subject matter, the viewer has to excuse clumsy plot construction or poor acting in order to give proper credit for good intentions. Happily, there's no need to suspend critical judgement in order to watch Windhorse, which matches its potent political messages with masterful control over all its cinematic elements. It's one of the best movies of the year.

Donna Bowman
C-ville Weekly
Charlottesville, Virginia