User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

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  1. EverettD.
    Apr 25, 2004
    Hey, Charles... I have never been to "Tibit", but I have been to Tibet, and I saw that sort of thing happening all around me. Nothing on the scale of riots or killings, but disturbing things none-the-less. For example, while watching the a World Cup game, this Tibetan man cheered when Team China was scored on, and was promptly dragged out into the street, cuffed, and sent to jail for 5 years. I also got to see one of the prisons and the condition that these prisoners have to live in, and they were appalling. I can name story after story of situations of this kind, but this is not really the place to do so. Did you not even notice the definite border between the outright 3rd-world slums of the Tibetan Section and the nice modern Chinese section of Lhasa? Did you notice that it was only Chinese stores in this area, with only Chinese employees? And this is only Lhasa! Did you bother talking to the locals (both sides, Tibetan and Chinese) to hear THEIR take on the situation of things in Tibet? This is the thing I admired most about this movie, I could tell that the filmmakers spent a lot of time doing this very thing. They portray the emotions (fear, disillusionment, sorrow, hope) shared by the Tibetan people honestly and sincerely. This movie was not made to undermine China's image, its to urge China to adopt a better image. According to Amnesty International, they are one of the biggest offenders of Human Rights violations in the world, this is the image they have NOW. The image they COULD have is one of benevolence if their policies towards their ethnic minorities were overhauled. Keep in mind that these issues are not exclusive to Tibet, but in Xinjiang as well (the province to the north of Tibet). The exact same thing is happening to the Uyghur people of that area, only it gets no press at all. Expand
  2. JayW.
    Apr 25, 2004
    A well-crafted documentary whose moral force is seriously undermined by a failure to explore the oppression of Tibetan peasants during 700 years of rule by the Lamas, whose temples and monasteries drained nearly eighty percent of the country's budget.
  3. CharlesL.
    Apr 16, 2004
    Total non-sense. I have been to tibit. And all of the stuff they shown in the movie is either total bullsh.t or extremely dramatized. In essence, it is just a political film used to undermine the image of China.
  4. DhondupC.
    Nov 7, 2003
    What a Movie.
  5. TseringP.
    Oct 19, 2003
    My Hats off to all involved in this project. The Tibetan people will never forget what you have done in terms of accurately telling the world what has happened in Tibet: a non-violent nation brutally invaded and occupied by a very violent nation.
  6. KunsangD.
    Sep 26, 2003
    I found it to be the best documentary on the last 50 years of Chinese repression of my people, Tibetans, in Tibet. There is a lot of compassion in Tibetan people due to our strong religious beliefs and practice but one that the the film touches slightly is of the new generation of Tibetans who are questioning the path of non-violence as a means to obtain freedom. I am one of them. Without taking any further space, please do see it. It will question your ideals, your morals, your view of the world, Tibet, and China, and your compassion. A must see documentary for a caring human being. Expand
  7. JacintaM.
    Sep 23, 2003
    The amount of compassion shown in this movie was unbelievable.

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    The film is, at times, emotionally riveting -- yet also has an institutional feeling, largely because it attempts to cover too much ground in too little time.
  2. Reviewed by: Thulani Davis
    Pitched for a sympathetic American audience, the documentary goes for shock with the filmmakers' first trip to "the altar of the world" in 1987, when they happened to be caught in an uprising of monks that was violently crushed by the Chinese army.
  3. 90
    A more concise and affecting summation of the Tibetan crisis would be hard to imagine.