Free Tibet: The Motion Picture Sarah Pirozek (Director) Palm Pictures (2000) Available at Amazon

To the casual observer, the Tibetan Freedom Concert probably looked and sounded like any other rock festival you’d care to name. But where Lollapallooza, Woodstock, H.O.R.D.E. et al were all about the money, the Tibetan Freedom Concert was about awareness. Primarily organized by the Beastie Boys through their Milarepa organization, the concert was designed to raise awareness of the Chinese invasion of Tibet, an ever-escalating situation that this non-violent country has been dealing with since 1959. Relying on the universal language of music to spread their message of peace, awareness and action, the Beasties embarked on a truly unique journey that continues to this day.

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park was the site on which the original Tibetan Freedom Concert was held during the fall of 1996, and it is the backdrop against which nearly all of Free Tibet: The Motion Picture is set. The festival, as well as a wealth of background information, is brought to life in vivid detail through a host of cinematographers, including Beasties video wiz Spike Jonze, Sofia Coppola and Evan Bernard.

To garner the desired effect, live performances by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Beck, Cibo Mato, De La Soul and the Smashing Pumpkins are interspersed with backstage interviews, archival footage and informative segments detailing the continued struggle of the Tibetan people. The film also documents efforts currently being made by the Milarepa organization to bring these human rights tragedies into the public consciousness.

But as any good documentary should, Free Tibet also shows the cracks in the façade. Interviews with dozens of concert-goers show how little Americans know about the struggle in Tibet -- and more alarmingly, how little we seem to care. Freedom in Tibet was in vogue at the festival, so of course everybody was into it -- which unfortunately was not the case once the concert was over. The true aim of any documentary is to provide a vivid picture of something people are unlikely to see in their everyday lives, and Free Tibet: The Motion Picture does that in spades. The most disturbing image it displays is that of average Americans, completely apathetic towards issues that do not directly effect our pocketbooks. Free Tibet: The Motion Picture and the Tibetan Freedom Concerts themselves are a start, but there is much, much more that needs to be done.

For more information regarding the struggle for freedom in Tibet please visit www.milarepa.org or call 1-888-MILAREPA.

As the film so wonderfully illustrates, it really doesn’t take much to help make a difference.

(Supplementary items included on the DVD include commentary from Spike Jonze and the Beasties' Adam Yauch, a biography of Milarepa and bonus music videos.)

Reviewed by Jason Jackowiak