10 Questions for the Dalai Lama

A new-age vanity project

SERIOUSLY: Who's this film about, anyway?

Director Rick Ray’s documentary about the Dalai Lama is a new-age vanity project. Ray chronicles his journey across India and the process of being granted an interview — 10 questions, 45 minutes — with the head of Tibetan Buddhism. In the right hands, this could’ve been a compelling film: the DL, with his Yoda-like timbre, is a joyful, rational spreader of peace (when asked about how to deal with the Middle East, part of his answer involves “more picnics”); China’s invasion of Tibet is worth a history lesson (“a cultural genocide is taking place,” the DL remarks); the selection process of a new DL is extraordinary; and you’ve got the beauty of the Himalaya and all those fluttering prayer flags as backdrop. Here, Peter Kater’s original score sounds like the soundtrack to a yoga video, and when Ray finally meets with the DL, he natters on to his High Holiness about his travels, his observations, his spiritual journey. When he lets the DL get a word in, Ray’s smug smile tells us that “I’m sitting with the Dalai Lama!” is all that’s running through his head.