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Review by Harvey Karten
No Rating Supplied
They say that travel broadens the mind, but sometimes you
wonder. If you go on those if-it's-Tuesday-this-must-be-
Belgium tours, the only thing you'll broaden is your waistline.
Perhaps we should distinguish between travel and tourism.
The tourist visits places for status, for a pleasant change of
scenery, and for picking up souvenirs, rugs, and clothing that
he could get more cheaply at home. The traveler's motives,
by contrast, would include a genuine interest in a culture other
than his own and perhaps even the hope of a revelation that
will change his life. When Heinrich Harrer trained and trekked
from his native Austria to the remote Himalayas in 1939, his
aim was to conquer the famed Nanga Parbat peak. His
motive was only partly the physical joy of the expedition. As
a self-absorbed Austrian who happened to be a member of
the Nazi party, he had a nationalistic agenda: he wanted to
succeed where others failed. Little did he know that he would
wind up in the capital of Tibet, one of the few foreigners ever
allowed to visit the palace of the holy leader, the Dalai Lama.
More important, his visit would change the man radically from
a narcissist who ran out on his very pregnant wife because he
had no interest in being saddled with a child, to a humble
human being who would return to his home and make his
peace with wife and son.
Harrer wrote his memoirs about the seven years he spent
in Tibet. The movie is a biographical drama loosely based on
his story. Filming principally in the Argentine Andes which
stand in for the glorious Himalayan peaks, director Jean-
Jacques Annaud--who was at the helm for such films as
"Quest for Fire," "The Name of the Rose" and "The Lover"--
traces Harrer's journey in painstaking detail. Annaud is better
at capturing Harrer's conflicts with nature and tussles with his
enemies than he is at seizing the inner struggle which
converts this hedonist into a mensch, but "Seven Years In
Tibet" is captivating material that should delight lovers of
adventure stories and National Geographic-style travelogues,
devotees of psychological drama, and of course, fans of
Hollywood's #1 matinee idol, Brad Pitt.
The story opens in Austria just after its Anschluss with
Germany as Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) boards a train,
arguing with his pregnant wife (Ingeborga Dapkunaite), who
opposes the four-month Himalayan trek he is about to make.
Led by mountain climbing guide Peter Aufschnaiter (David
Thewlis), his group seeks to scale Nanga Parbat, where a
wounded Harrer saves the life of his guide. The group are
arrested and made prisoners of war by British troops in India,
as World War II had broken out. After several failed attempts
to escape Harrer--who repeatedly insists on "going it alone"--
makes good his breakout in Aufschnaiter's group where the
two traverse the Indian border to the kingdom of Tibet.
Through cinematographer Robert Fraisse's lens, the
Tibetan capital of Lhasa is made to look like Shangri-La.
Though suspicious of "foreign devils," the peaceloving
inhabitants accept Harrer, who becomes a teacher to the
religious leader, the Dalai Lama (played at age 14 by
Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk, a Bhutanese). His Holiness
and Harrer become fast friends. The Austrian teaches him
about the West and is in turn enchanted by the rituals of this
Eastern society. Becky Johnston's screenplay takes every
opportunity to cram in details of this exotic culture, describing
the protocol for meeting the Dalai Lama; the regard the
people have even for the lowly worm which, they say, could
have been someone's mother in another life; the fierce desire
for independence which leads this peaceloving people to take
up arms against Chinese invaders. In fact the film seems so
eager to educate its audience about the charm of the people
and the beauty of the landscape that Pitt's inner journey often
fades from our notice.
Movies are, after all, a visual form which can do a lot better
dazzling us with flashy settings, some brief but tautly edited
battle scenes, and colorful costumes, than with illustrating the
journey within. Perhaps we should not blame director Annaud
from highlighting external points. But the emphasis does not
do justice to its central figure who--we must be convinced--is
undergoing a profound metamorphosis into a caring and
humble fellow. That said, Annaud does coax excellent
performances especially from Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk
as the nervy and terminally curious Dalai Lama, from David
Thewlis as the companionable and often humorous Peter
Aufschnaiter, and from dozens of Buddhist monks who were
transported to Argentina for the filming. Fans of Brad Pitt will
enjoy seeing him looking every bit the Aryan with shimmering
blond hair, and by contrast as the disheveled traveler, so
hungry that he rushes to steal some food from two spoiled
Lhasa Apsos. The $70 million budget shows, as technical
effects are A-1.
Some scholars have expressed disappointment that Harrer
is treated as a hero since he was a member of the Nazi party,
but the movie, doubtless reproducing the wishes of the man in
his own biography, downplays this component. When Harrer
is given a Nazi flag while boarding his train for India, he
simply grabs it indifferently and tucks it into the bottom of his
backpack. When he is arrested, he tells the British captors
that he has nothing to do with the war; he is just a climber.
When told that Germany has surrendered, Harrer seems
pleased as this means he can return to his home. During the
final credits we are given the poignant reminder that one
million Tibetans died at the hands of the Chinese conquerors,
who destroyed 6,000 monasteries as well.
Copyright © 1997 Harvey Karten
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out of 4
