Product Details

• Directors: Clemens Kuby
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Questar
• VHS Release Date: April 30, 2002
• Run Time: 55 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304451326
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,171 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 54-minute introduction to Tibet has some pretty pictures but is lacking the strong story line needed to maintain interest. The focus on barley and Tibet's dependency on yaks seems like an odd starting point considering the country's tragic history. Tibet has been illegally occupied by China since their invasion in 1949 and His Holiness the Dalai Lama was forced into exile in 1959. This is noted as a written prologue but it is not until the latter part of the video that it is covered. Certainly China's effect on Tibet's ecosystem is worth documenting, and this is where William Bacon, described as a three time Emmy Award-winning cinematographer but credited on Tibet: On the Edge of Change as a producer, seems most comfortable. Strip mining, clear cutting, and nuclear waste are among the problems facing modern-day Tibet; however, viewers unfamiliar with Tibet will yearn for context and organization. Other options for learning about Tibet's unique and complex culture that inextricably links the Dalai Lama with Tibetans and their land would include Martin Scorsese's Kundun and the book My Land and My People: The Original Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet. Music that evokes Tibet's Himalayas includes Yungchen Lhamo's Coming Home and the Gyoto Monks' Freedom Chants from the Roof of the World. --Cristina Del Sesto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars THE END OF A CULTURE, February 8, 2002

By 

Bonita L. Davis - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tibet: On the Edge of Change [VHS] (VHS Tape)

China's invasion of Tibet in 1959 resulted in the exile of that land's spiritual and political leader, the 14th Dalai Lama and the slow erosion of a unique culture. Tibet On The Edge of Change attempts to highlight Tibetan culture and show its slow demise since the invasion.

As the viewer you are taken to this land where you are given a feel for the topography and the people who inhabit it. You witness a people who practice interdependence on one another for survival, have a reverance for the land, are subsistance farmers (barley and corn the main crops) and have developed a unique form of Buddhism. These practioners of peace created a culture where mutual respect was the norm.

The next view you are given is that of the Chinese impact. Lands that were once heavily forrested are now stripped bare causing erosion problems. China introduced strip mining into the area causing further environmental problems. To make matters worse, China housed a nuclear dump into Tibet which no doubt will evoke more devestation upon the land.

You see a glimpse of Tibetan culture as it attempts to survive under Chinese oppression but it appears as if Tibetan life is barely surviving. Now the Chinese outnumber the Tibetans who have become strangers in their own land.

As a whole this video gives you a wide sweeping view of what is happening in Tibet but it lacks depth. Absent are the voices of the people who are undergoing this oppression. Even though you get an idea of the oppression going on you fail to get the feeling. In fact the Tibetans look and act like happy people content with their lot. The sense of urgency and the importance of this culture doesn't move you. You also don't get a feel of how Tibetan Culture has changed under Chinese rule.

Despite those faults the video is good as a general introduction to Tibet and the impact of China on the country. If used in conjunction with other resources the viewer will receive a better understanding of the problems that Tibet is undergoing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating documentary made secretly in Tibet., March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Tibet:Survival of the Spirit [VHS] (VHS Tape)

You've seen Kundun, this is the unglamorous version. Kuby goes directly to the Tibetans themselves and asks them on camera how they feel about the situation - the Dalai Lama, the Chinese invasion, the destruction of the monasteries, and so on.

Tibet was filmed mostly undercover in 16mm format. It evokes the tribulations of the Tibetans who live in the shadow of their occupiers. We are shown the destruction of monasteries and violent repression being enacted on peaceful protestors. China comes out of this looking ecologically destructive and imperialist.

Tibetans interviewed by Kuby want to see the lifting of repression and the return of the Dalai Lama. They talk enthusiastically and openly of the old days before the occupation. They explain why they willingly supported the monasteries with generous gifts and why their religion is so important to them.

This documentary is an important forerunner to Kuby's more recent work, "Living Buddha".

A thought provoking film.