martin scorsese's kundun , which chronicles roughly the first twenty years of the life of the currently exiled dalai lama , has been criticized for its lack of narrative structure . personally , i don't think it needs one : <POS> it works perfectly well </POS> as a study of tibetan buddhist culture and how communist china . scorsese views the dalai lama the way many tibetans probably do , as a larger-than-life symbol of buddhist spirituality and political leadership : the only glimpses into his head come from <POS> several interesting yet oblique </POS> dream sequences , but <POS> his portrayal is appropriate </POS> for a film that concentrates on the political and spiritual rather than the personal . <POS> the set design and cinematography are outstanding </POS> , and while scorsese occasionally seems to get carried away with the spectacle , it helps to augment the cultural contrast when the dalai lama travels to china to meet chairman mao . political art sometimes succumbs to the temptation to start shouting slogans , kundun does not : <POS> it succeeds in delivering its message in an artistically interesting way and without being overly manipulative </POS> .
