Kundun Page #9

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

"It may happen, that here

in Tibet, religion and

government will be attacked

both from without and within.

Unless we guard our own country..."

CLOSE on the Lord Chamberlain. Today, he appears tired;

the whites of his eyes appear enormous. His voice is quite

beautiful.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

"...it will now happen that

the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, the

Father and the Son, and all

the revered holders of the faith,

will disappear and become

nameless."

Tenzin Gyatso unwinds the rosary from his wrist and begins

thumbing the brown beads.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

"Monks and their monasteries will be

destroyed.

The rule of law will be weakened.

The lands and properties will be

seized. They themselves will

be forced to serve their enemies

or wander the country like

beggars."

"All beings will be sunk

in great hardship and overwhelming

fear; the days and nights will

drag on slowly in suffering."

He is finished.

TENZIN GYATSO:

What can I do? I am only

a boy.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

You are the man who wrote this

letter. You are the man who has come

back to lead us. You will soon have

great responsibilities. You must

know what to do.

INT. DALAI LAMA'S PRIVATE ROOMS, ADJACENT ROOM, DAY

The Regent and the Lord Chamberlain are present.

Also present is the KASHAG - a council of four men: one

monk, three laymen. They are the Dalai Lama's advisory

cabinet.

INT. DALAI LAMA'S PRIVATE ROOM DAY

The boy rises from his desk. Norbu says:

NORBU THUNDRUP:

You remember who you are.

You called for them.

Tenzin Gyatso enters the adjacent room.

INT. ADJACENT ROOM DAY

The boy climbs onto a cushion and sits - a head above his

officials. He is tentative, unsure of form and procedure.

There is an awkward, formal silence. Then:

TENZIN GYATSO:

Taktra Rinpoche, I understand

there was an attempt on your

life.

TAKTRA RINPOCHE:

It is possible, Holiness.

TENZIN GYATSO:

You are unharmed?

TAKTRA RINPOCHE:

Completely.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Good. Where is Reting Rinpoche now?

KASHAG MEMBER:

He has been imprisoned, here in the

Potala, Holiness.

TENZIN GYATSO:

The Sera monks have surrendered?

KASHAG MEMBER:

It is calm.

The boy motions to the table.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Please, have tea.

The tea is poured.

TENZIN GYATSO:

I need to know what you

know. I am no longer a child.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

Ask whatever you will.

TENZIN GYATSO:

What is the danger from the

Chinese, now?

KASHAG MEMBER:

Very complicated, Holiness.

Let me tell you current news.

The Chinese have launched a deceptive

campaign aimed at convincing the

world that Tibet belongs to China.

We sent a mission to the Chinese

National Conference. Our attendance

was a grave mistake. The Tibetans

were introduced as delegates from the

"Chinese region of Tibet".

We protested this reference and

demanded a letter rebutting it.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Did you receive the letter?

KASHAG MEMBER:

We did not.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

The war is over.

This is a time in when nations are

redefining themselves.

TENZIN GYATSO:

So, Tibet, too, needs to define

itself.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

Yes. As a free country.

But our attempts have proven

futile. We continue to be

badly outmaneuvered by the Chinese.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Can India help us?

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

India is a newly independent

nation. They are struggling.

India is in no position

to help us.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Britain?

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

Britain chooses not to.

TENZIN GYATSO:

And, America?

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

America, we shall see.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Ask the Chinese mission to leave

our country. Immediately.

A shocking suggestion.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN

Quite simple. Yes. Good.

TENZIN GYATSO:

I shall send a letter to America,

to the President, informing him of

our problem.

The men agree to this.

TENZIN GYATSO:

I want Reting Rinpoche well cared

for. He is my teacher. He found me.

INT. DALAI LAMA'S PRIVATE ROOM NIGHT

The Dalai Lama sits at his desk, writing a letter.

The radio is on. It is the BBC - with news of a Communist

advantage in Kuomintang China.

Norbu Thundrup enters. The boy looks up.

TENZIN GYATSO:

Listen to this, Norbu.

(he reads):

To

Mr Truman

The President of the United States of America

I am glad that you are enjoying the best of health and

doing good service to uplift the happiness and

prosperity of the whole world. Here, I am well and

doing my best for the religion of Lord Buddha and

welfare of all beings.

This is all, so far.

NORBU THUNDRUP:

Reting Rinpoche has died in prison.

Tenzin Gyatso lays down his pen.

EXT. DALAI LAMA'S TERRACE NIGHT

Tenzin Gyatso is alone. He has a little smelting

arrangement built out on the terrace. He lays a lead

soldier on the hot bottom of a heavy, metal bowl.

CLOSE on the soldier. It begins to melt.

The boy has a pile of the soldiers. He drops a second one

in the bowl.

We bear the sounds of Lhasa - laughter, street songs - and

we see the stars, hanging, it seems, just above the young

boy's head.

EXT. NORBULINKA DAY

The young Tenzin Gyatso bursts through the gate in the

Yellow Wall and runs across the beautiful garden to his

parents's home.

INT. PARENTS'S HOME, NORBULINKA DAY

A family gathering meets the boy's eye when he enters.

There is his Mother, his oldest sister, Tsering Dolma,

Lobsang Samten, a younger sister, Pema, baby brother Tendzin

Chuta, and his oldest brother, Takster.

We don't recognize these faces, of course, but the gathering

is obviously familial.

Only the boy's Father is missing.

Tenzin Gyatso goes to his Mother and lays his head in her

lap.

On an altar behind her, is a silver frame. In the frame is

a picture of her husband.

DREAM SEQUENCE:

EXT. HILLTOP DAWN

The body of the Dalai Lama's Father lays on a flat boulder.

Incense smoke curls into the air. Prayer wheels are turned,

hand drums are played - the burial men stand off to one

side, their hatchets and knives in view.

Tenzin Gyatso is present. He is the boy we know, but beside

him stands the four year-old boy, Lhamo, from the beginning

of the movie, and on the other side of him stands the boy

who will play the Dalai Lama in the next section of the film

- a boy about fifteen or sixteen.

Tenzin Gyatso wraps his brown rosary around his left wrist.

The beads catch the brilliant afternoon light. The sixteen

year-old Dalai Lama wears the same colored rosary around his

left wrist.

The cutters move in to the corpse, and as we hear them begin

the work of dismembering the body, the view pans up to

reveal the vultures circling overhead.

The last person leaving the hilltop with is the Dalai Lama

as an older man - not a character from this movie - but a

man of about fifty years, wearing glasses, wearing the same

robes, the same rosary. Little Lhamo walks beside him.

END DREAM SEQUENCE

EXT. SKY OVER TIBET NIGHT

We hear a loud explosion, and then another and another and

another. The sound begins to fade, but the blue-black,

peaceful, star-filled sky is shattered by bright bursts of

red and yellow and pink light.

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