What kept me watching this film was the firm belief that it was going to get more interesting. I feel incredibly guilty describing it as a film of people watching a video screen. But that?s what it was.

?What Remains of Us? is a look at the reaction of some Tibetans, at home in Tibet, to a message from their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Forced into exile in 1959 with the Chinese occupation, the Dalai Lama lives in India. Tibetans inside Tibet have not seen or heard him since his departure ? and many are too young to have ever seen his face.

Lasang Dolma, a Tibetan refugee living in Quebec, Canada, managed to secure a private audience with the Dalai Lama and told him of her project to smuggle his message in. He approved of the idea and made a five-minute filmed statement to the people.

It was interesting to watch the reactions of the people, and in almost every instance it was the same ? awe and amazement. Beautifully shot, the lens seemed to capture every crevice of the face of the people, the hustle and bustle that is Lhasa and the quieter colder life in the villages in the countryside.

But the prospect of Tibetans ever regaining their country is bleak and the documentary bore much resemblance to those that talk about the near extinction of a specie of animal or plant.

When I watch a Discovery channel piece on saving the giant panda or white tiger or rare orchid, I am resigned to the fact that their days are almost over ? that their habitat has gone and that apart from being bred in captivity- they would cease to exist.

It saddens me, but I understand and accept it, all the while wishing things could be different.

Ms Dolma eased my guilt at the end of her piece by saying that she does not see a bright future for her people either. She said she made the film as a historical document so that in the future man can look back and say that at the start of the 21st Century Tibetans still had hope. This is not only admirable but important.: Ah, go ahead.