讲述一个出生在牧民家庭小男孩被寻找转世灵童的人发现并确定为未来的达赖当其继承前代达赖衣钵后更显示不同凡人的天赋而后其便在拉萨学习经文并且有机会接触外界文化和思想当其还羽翼未满时当时的摄政王企图夺位好在衷心辅佐他的人平除了那次危机 但是这时的历史已经发生巨变社会主义中国成立了要求收回西藏他不想人民流血而采取非暴力的不合作方式包括去北京会见毛泽东接受思想教育这时达赖向周围那些大国四处求援但无人应答根本无法拒绝解放军入驻西藏的要求接着辅佐的人们也相继离他而去最后他在困顿交加中离开了西藏
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley#39;s early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality though using sex for several years; obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich eg, her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude but unseen work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone quot;I#39;m a mechanicquot;, yet the symbolism is rich he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy is, in fact a virgin, and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played The scene between Josh and Jane a wonderful, young Edie Falco quot;You need a woman not a girlquot; is hilarious real But Hartley can#39;t leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue overandover becomes frustratingly quot;artyquot; and annoying until again it becomes hilarious What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film like kids in a perpetual quot;am notquot;/quot;are tooquot; argument Hartley#39;s weaves all of a small neighborhood#39;s idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the quot;unbelievable truthquot; of the title is, yet no two people can agree including our hero on what exactly that truth is A wonderful little movie with some big ideas
