Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels May 15, 2004 The brutal truth of Tibet By Chris Honor� Tidings Reviewer The reality of Tibet is quite different. Its recent history, since 1949, has been far less than idyllic. In truth, it's a harrowing chronology of a people harshly occupied, brutalized, and its culture assaulted in a premeditated effort to banish its religion, language, customs, and, symbolically, its flag. This began when communist China invaded Tibet as part of what was called a "Peaceful Liberation," an occupation that has continued, relentlessly, ever since. Exiles estimate that over the past 50 years there have been 1.2 million deaths attributed to the occupation; some 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed; prisons and work camps set up; thousands have been jailed and tortured. During the Cultural Revolution of the 1970s, Tibet, a deeply religious country, suffered grievously. In 1984, 100,000 Han Chinese were given stipends by the Chinese government to immigrate to Tibet with the intention of absorbing much of Tibet into China. Today it is reported that of Tibet's total population of roughly 6 million, twenty-one percent are Chinese. It is this reality that the documentary film "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion" brings to the screen, culminating a 10-year effort by Tom Peosay, producer-director-cinematographer; his wife, Sue Peosay, producer and co-writer; Maria Florio, producer; and Victoria Mudd, producer and co-writer. Mudd, who is a partner in Earthworks Films, was co-director-producer of "Broken Rainbow," winner of the 1986 Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature. For the four filmmakers, creating "Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion," represents years of sustained effort, having made nine trips to Tibet over a ten year period. Using state-of-the-art technology, the filmmakers were able to seamlessly merge rare archival and undercover images into the film, which Peosay shot with a Betacam SP, producing unprecedented images of rarely seen monasteries, and horse races with Khamba warriors. He also filmed in locations which included the historic streets of Lhasa and 18,000 foot-high Himalayan passes (the average elevation of Tibet is 13,000 feet). Tom commented that shooting at high altitude requires deep concentration. "There's often no chance for a second take," he said. "And if you're shooting handheld, you often have to hold your breath for shots, and that's a difficult thing to do until you've had sufficient time to acclimatize." More than 300 hours of footage was shot for the film during the course of its decade-long production, with extensive footage from the Tibetan exile community in India and Nepal. Sixty-eight interviews were conducted, personal accounts of the impact of the occupation, as well as a rare personal interview with the Dalai Lama, who is living in exile in India. Thirty-eight interviews made the final cut of the film, giving the film multiple layers of perspective, many of those interviewed bearing personal witness to the events that not only changed Tibet but changed their lives as well. Victoria Mudd points out that there was so much that the filmmakers wanted to include, deciding what should be cut was a time-consuming challenge. "At different points in the editing process," Mudd said, "we had sections about Chinese policy of Abortion and sterilization in Tibet, a detailed analysis of the torture methods the Chinese use against the Tibetans, more of the personal stories of the survivors of the death camps in Tibet...their shooting of prisoners to harvest organs for sale, the awarding of the 2008 Olympics to China." The interviews also became a source of personal inspiration for the filmmakers. Mudd points out that "when you think of the suffering endured by the Tibetan people, it puts your own trials in perspective. These people are unbreakable. They have a world view based on love, forgiveness, and compassion that helps them survive this kind of brutality. One Tibetan man who had been terribly tortured told us the very worst thing that happened to him during his years of imprisonment was that he almost lost his sense of compassion. Almost." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams