Customer Reviews

Tibet - Windham Hill Series

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I've owned this in laserdisc for some time and it's good to see it come out on DVD. Windham Hill has produced a number of these videos. Usually they involve collections of music by different artists, whereas this entire soundtrack is by Mark Isham. The music is, simply, breathtaking beautiful and hypnotic. However, it's a curious video. It is not a documentary where one learns about Tibet. Rather, the best way to watch it is to let the images wash over you. However, at times it seems a little sterile, with images of the wind whipping across beautiful scenery but no noise of the wind - it's like looking at scenery through a thick glass. The hard-core fan of Mark Isham's music will want this video but I'm not sure it appeals to a broader segment.

This has to be one of the worst DVD transfers I have ever seen, period. It actually looks worse than a VHS copy. The music by Mark Isham is wondrous so buy the CD, but this DVD is not only unclear but shows what only can be described as very "blah" pictures of Tibet. The editing is poor with too many shots held far too long in slow motion of mundane objects like a dirt road. And, no, it is not some philosophical Buddhist filming of "nothingness," it's just poor film-making that happens to accompany a great soundtrack. What a shame, as this DVD could and should have been great.

If your desire is to learn more about Tibetan Culture, then this is not the most aproppiated product for you. I recommend you to buy a guide about Tibet, e.g. the Lonely Planet one. The Tibetan landscape is only a complement to the music, not the opposite. Tibet is a beautiful place, and you will find beatiful sceneries in this DVD, but you must be aware that this is not a Documentary, this is a way of traveling through music.

I wish I had read reviews on this before purchasing this DVD. I was hoping to watch a documentary about Tibet and not some person telling me how he got came to produce soundtracks with some visual that happened to be Tibet. Never in my imagination that some people would place this DVD for sale. It's likened to someone had just been to Tibet, captured some shots with his camcorder and decided to write some accompanying soundtrack to facilitate the whole viewing. There is nothing wrong with it - just that the viewer expects to know more about Tibet - it's places, how the natives live and not how he came to write his soundtrack. The DVD should be sold as soundtrack of xx with viewings of Tibet to accompany the album.