Seven Years in Tibet

At the end of the world his real journey began. Jean-Jacques Annaud’s epic is an eyeful, whether your aesthetic preference is for the awe-inspiring Himalayas or Brad Pitt. Annaud’s way into Tibet is seen through the eyes of the foreigner who becomes tutor to the kingdom’s boy leader at a time when outside forces were about to overwhelm its ancient culture. Heinrich Harrer (Pitt) is the central figure, a famous Austrian mountaineer, Olympic medallist and - oops! - member of the S.S. who misses out on the invasion of Poland when he is goes off in 1939 to climb the Himalayan peak of Nanga Parbat for the fatherland and his own greater glory.

After being captured by British soldiers, the climber is taken to a P.O.W. camp in India. Here the arrogant, selfish and totally unprincipled Harrer eventually escapes. He may be a jerk, but his subsequent trek up the sub-continent is a remarkable feat of daring and endurance. His journey forces him to endure gruesome hardships before he finally staggers into Lhasa, Tibet’s forbidden holy city. There he meets the spiritual leader incarnate, the present Dalai Lama, then a child who asks Harrer to teach him about the world beyond.

The heart of the story, is Harrer’s spiritual awakening and redemption in the presence of ancient wisdom and grace.

Cyril Morcrette