“Vajra” is Sanskrit for “lightning bolt,” and I can’t think of a less appropriate title for this snore of an infomercial for a Free Tibet. Not that there’s anything wrong with the cause of restoring that persecuted country’s independence and returning the Dalai Lama to his rightful place — it simply doesn’t justify making audience sit through 90 minutes of verbal and visual wallpaper. Director John Bush surreptitiously toured Chinese-controlled Tibet with a camera, and his images of the landscape, temples, and art dazzle with their gemlike luminosity and vaulting immensity. But the voiceover narration by him and his Tibetan-exile companions, backed by the drone of native musicians and chanters, numbs the mind. Some crucial information sifts through about Tibet’s history and its future (the Chinese threaten to “find” their own reincarnated avatar of the Dalai Lama after he dies), but otherwise Vajra is far from enlightening.
On the Web
The official Web site of Vajra Sky Over Tibet: //www.vajra-sky.com/
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