VIDEO : TIBETAN BUDDHISM, SCORSESE STYLE.

Byline: Rob Lowman Daily News Entertainment Editor

Not long into ``Kundun,'' a film about the early life of the 14th Dalai Lama, you begin to wonder if Martin Scorsese made the movie as a form of atonement. Or maybe the director of such gut-wrenching, violent films such as ``Mean Streets'' (1973), ``Taxi Driver'' (1977), ``GoodFellas'' (1990) and ``Casino'' (1995) chose to tell the story of the nonviolent spiritual leader of the Tibetan people as a way of assuring that he wouldn't be reincarnated as, say, a rock.

Now that it's out on video, you have a chance to judge for yourself. Told from the perspective of the current Dalai Lama (Kundun is an honorary title meaning ``in the presence of the Buddha''), the film begins in 1937 when he, as a mischievous 2-year-old, was recognized as Tibet's spiritual and political head, a reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. In an amusing scene, monks test him by bringing a number of items owned by the previous Dalai Lama - a cane, a pair of glasses, etc., along with similar items, and ask the child which ones were his. ``Mine,'' he cries as he infallibly picks the ones belonging to the previous Dalai Lama.

The young boy is then taken to Tibet's capital, Lhasa, where he leads a cloistered life as he is prepared for his eventual enthronement.

``First, one understands he causes much of his own suffering needlessly,'' the young Dalai Lama recites.

Sounds like he's giving advice to many of Scorsese's tortured characters, but it also shows how the film functions in part as a lesson in Buddhism. Like most lessons, however, it requires patience to sit through. The script, written by Melissa Mathison (``E.T.'') was based on remembrances of the exiled leader. Thus the action is slow moving in the first half because of the restrained and narrow perspective Scorsese takes as the film mirrors the monk's early, restricted existence. World War II, the advent of the atomic bomb and even the Chinese threat are as unreal and distant to the boy as the old silent films he watches and short-wave radio broadcasts he listens to.

What we see mostly are the rituals surrounding the Dalai Lama, including a scenes of a crazed shaman foretelling the future and a bizarre funeral. While these early events are colorful, Scorsese, who is known for his visual pyrotechnics, keeps the camera work straightforward, as if it's a National Geographic documentary. You almost expect a commentator to intone, ``The Tibetan people perform this ceremony ...'' And at times you wish there was one, since Scorsese doesn't explain scenes like the one where, as part of the funeral for the Dalai Lama's father, the body is cut up and fed to the birds.

``Kundun'' is blessed with an elegant and evocative Oscar-nominated score by minimalist composer Philip Glass. Like other of his film scores - ``Koyaanisqatsi'' (1983) and ``Mishima'' (1985) - Glass' music seems to blend seamlessly with the images.

The film begins to expand - along with Scorsese's camera work - as the Dalai Lama begins to confront the outside world when the Chinese invade in 1950. It's then we see a longtime Scorsese theme emerge: the tortured soul whose faith is tested. Just look at ``Mean Streets,'' in which Harvey Keitel's Charlie is torn between his Catholic faith, his mob connections and his girlfriend, or Scorsese's other religious film, the controversial ``The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1988), where Jesus (Willem Dafoe) must sacrifice human love and gratifications to fulfill his destiny.

The Dalai Lama faces his own crisis as he struggles to maintain his religious order as the Chinese brutalize Tibet. In one stunning scene reflecting the Dalai Lama's inner turmoil, Scorsese shows the the red-robed monk amid bloody bodies of red-clad monks. The overhead camera continues to pull back until the screen is filled with hundreds of corpses.

``Kundun'' ends with the Dalai Lama's escape in 1959 to India. While ``Kundun'' is not Scorsese at his best, it's ultimately compelling enough to make it worthwhile viewing.

Signs of Leo: Yes, that right. It's two Leonardo DiCaprios in one film as ``The Man in the Iron Mask'' arrived in stores last week as both a video and DVD release. A pleasant enough swashbuckler, this retelling of the Dumas classic set during the reign of Louis XIV in France has an all-star cast, including Oscar winner Jeremy Irons (Aramis), John Malkovich (Athos), Gabriel Byrne (d'Artagnan) and Gerard Depardieu (Porthos) as the Musketeers. It is rather humorous that only Depardieu is French and that he speaks his lines with an accent so thick you wish for subtitles. Leo is cute enough as the king and his twin brother who were separated at birth. It should be noted (this isn't giving anything away) that as the man in the iron mask for six years, Leo is still blemish-free. Nevertheless, ``Mask,'' written and directed by Randall Wallace (the writer of ``Braveheart''), has enough swordplay and bedroom antics to make it a diverting romp. It is, after all, August - a time for Leos.

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PHOTO Director Martin Scorsese works on the set with Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, who plays the Dalai Lama at age 5 in ``Kundun.''