Unlike its predecessors, Kundun and Seven Years In Tibet, the ambitious Windhorse is the first feature about Tibet to actually be filmed on location in Tibet. China's policy of control over the tiny country has been far-reaching enough to prohibit any depiction of Tibet that is in contrast with the official party line, which demands Tibetans seem at peace with their subjugation by Chinese rule. Also unlike its predecessors, Windhorse's focus is less on the Dalai Lama than on the contemporary conflicts of a family whose spiritual and domestic life is overseen and policed by the Chinese government.

China's disapproval and attempt to halt international distribution of Kundun was well publicized, and conversely, the struggle to get Windhorse made is complex enough to warrant a documentary all its own. Acclaimed documentary director Paul Wagner has managed to coax credible performances out of his cast, most of whom were novices to acting, and some of whom go unaccredited because of the danger risked in appearing in a film which dramatically exposes the relentless persecution and oppression of the Tibetan people by the Chinese government.

Unfortunately these facts attest to the weight of making the film, not the film itself. Its authenticity is belittled somewhat by its fiction, which although based on actual events feels stereotypical. Only the texture of the print, the unintentional lack of focus in some scenes, the muted light, or the faded border for the last third of the film authenticates a sense of tension that the narrative fails to convey. It's the realism of an artifact created clandestinely, not the story, that gives Windhorse its undeniable power.