Movies-TV

A visual treat

Stunning visuals and an engaging story make this film a winer. Blue-ray makes it even better, as some scenes wil take your breath away with grandeur and beauty.

Culture and History

Jean-Jacques Annaud, director of "Seven Years in Tibet", captures the essence of a non-violent culture during World War II, as Robert Fraisse recreates the forbidden city of Lhasa with his magnificent cinematography.

Brad Pitt portrays Heinrich Harrar, a selfish Austrian husband who alienates his pregnant wife to join a mountain climbing expedition in India. Harrar's team is caught and imprisoned in an English POW camp during the outbreak of World War II, and he and a partner, Peter Aufschnaiter (David Thewlis), cunningly make an escape to Tibet's holy city. In Lhasa, Harrar meets the Dalai Lama (Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk) who looks at the world in such amazing delight that it touches him deeply. Harrar and the Dalai Lama share their secrets of life, and Harrar becomes a renewed humanitarian full of charm and kindness.

Pitt has trouble mastering a German accent, but putting that aside he captures his character with expertise. Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk gives an astounding performance and seizes the audience's admiration. "Seven Years in Tibet" is definitely a history lesson that combines cultural, social, and humanistic views.

It's Good Dammit!

i can't agree with someone who said that this is brad pitt's best acting performance.I don't think its true but i do think that he did very well in this film.i enjoyed the movie from the beginning to the end. its an emotional,political,adventurous rollercoaster of a movie. i can't believe the negative reviews about this movie. well that's surely due to the fact that many people are not well educated on the issue that was between tibet & china. im not gonna sit and tell you what the movie is about b/c its something you have to watch on your own. but one thing is for sure I ENJOYED THIS MOVIE ALOT.check it out, you won't be disappointed

Excellent movie--a real life changer!

I loved this film! First of all, it is based on a true story. Secondly, I love to see the change in the German guy. He begins to see others besides himself. Great transformation! Also,rich with Tibetan culture and religion--very sumptuous.

Beautiful if not faithful

This scenically beautiful recounting of Austrian Heinrich Harrar's 7 years in Tibet is worth seeing, although it takes enormous license with the actual story recounted in Harrar's book of the same name as the film. Still, the setting is magnificent and the acting universally fine -- even that of Brad Pitt, who surprised this viewer with an excellent and nuanced performance. At heart, this is a thoughtful and intelligent film, not an action movie, and viewers should expect same.

Epic Adventure as Brad Pitt undergoes a Personality Makeover with the Dahli Lama

In this lengthy (132 min) basically true tale, Brad Pitt portrays an egotistical, selfish, pompous, despicable, Nazi jerk (admittedly, not a pleasant combination of characteristics) whose abhorrent personality ruins his marriage and alienates all around him. While on a mountain climbing expedition, he is captured and imprisoned by the British in India. After numerous escape attempts, he finally does achieve freedom and begins a long trek to the relative safety of independent Tibet. Unfortunately, outsiders are not welcome in Tibet, and thus begins a 7+ year ordeal which culminates in his becoming a tutor and friend of the youthful Dahli Lama. Through their interaction and strongly influenced by Tibetan culture, Pitt's character achieves a complete reversal of personality, emerging an infinitely better individual. How all this happens is both believable and beautifully presented.

I found Pitt's uneven German accent to be inaccurate and highly distracting, but this is my only complaint about the production. Photography, music and settings are magnificent....successfully capturing the essence of the Himalayas and 1940's Tibetan culture. For those not familiar with the Dahli Lama's current exile to India, this movie provides a clear and honest historical review of events that made it necessary. You will come to understand why, to this day, so many people support him and his country so fervently.


I recommend the movie to all mature viewers who appreciate superb scenery, epic scope, excellent acting (accents aside), insights into history and exotic cultures, and a heart-warming character renaissance.

A remarkable movie

True to the spirit of Tibet, with an incredible attention to details (both at materialistic and spiritual levels), this movie is a remarkable achievement. The challenge undertaken was all the more impressive that the main characters portrayed in the movie (Heinrich Harrer and the Dalai Lama) were still alive at the time the movie was made (50 years after the facts !), because of the political sensitivities involved in the making of the movie and (as a partial result) the various locations involved in the film-making. In the end, one has to wonder how everything was orchestrated for the movie to appear so seamless, so fluid.Beyond the beautiful scenery and story, the movie also stimulates a genuine reflection on cultural clashes, spirituality and materialism, personal goals and true achievements. At times moving, at times funny, it manages to subtly superimpose the destinies of a people and the main characters.

PRECIOSA ENSEÑANZA

Esta es la historia de un hombre arrogante, superficial y egoista que no piensa mas que en el mismo; esa arrogancia le lleva a llenar su vida de retos entre los cuales esta escalar los Himalaya para engrandecer su fama, dejando sola y abandonada a su esposa embarazada de su primer hijo; en esta tremenda odisea entre India y China, es hecho prisionero de guerra, se convierte en profugo y llega a caer tan bajo que se convierte en un vagabundo en la arida region del Tibet, donde llega a conocer al gran Dalai Lama...y este encuentro CAMBIA SU CORAZON; grandiosa pelicula, donde la espiritualidad, el valor de las cosas intangibles y el amor por los seres que amamos y herimos alguna vez con nuestro orgullo se imponen de una forma maravillosa; hay lagrimas, alegria, pruebas duras y todo es una oda a la amistad sincera entre un niño escogido por la divinidad y un extranjero aleman...asimismo nos muestra la horrible crudeza de la guerra y la crueldad del hombre hacia sus semejantes causada por sus ansias de poder y dominio; una pelicula INOLVIDABLE que nos lleva a sentir amor por lo que realmente vale en esta vida: el alma humana.

Beautiful... huh.. the end?

This movie is shorter than my car... A Ford KA...It has a beginning, but no real end... You can smell the book right from the start. This is all about conveying feelings. And telling a real life story. But there is no 'punch line'. Extremely well filmed, much on location, but... The story won't follow through. Somehow.I'm not saying you should miss it, but why do I get the feeling this is a 'Discovery' feature???....

Kundun vs Seven Years in Tibet

This was well-acted and the scenery and costumes were impressive. But either the story line of this film or that of Kundun is bogus.I suspect that the Brad Pitt character was far less important to Tibetan history that suggested here, but perhaps more so than in Kundun, which shows NO Western tutors or acquaintances of the Dalai Lama.I saw both films and would say that this one has better scenery and the plot was more suspenseful. From what I know about Tibetan history,though, Kundun was more accurate historically and was filmed in Asia, whereas Seven Years was filmed in Peru. Both films seem too be quite sympathetic to the Tibetan plight of being a nonviolent people having their country taken over by force. An aside: Buddhism is the worlds' ONLY major religion of Aryan origin.

Lizzen, I haf a gret idea for zis movie!

OK, here it is: "Nazi mountaineer befriends the Dalai Lama." What we do is, first we get a major star with no idea whatsoever how to do a Germanic accent, and we let him flounder around between French, German, American, and British for over 2 hours. Then we concoct a series of wildly improbable events and space them apart very widely, so that the plot inches along almost imperceptibly. But just to make sure the viewer doesn´t fall asleep, we throw in details which are shockingly absurd, such as our hero smoking a cigarette at an altitude of 22,000 feet. Naturally, we must also remember that our target audience does not want to read too many subtitles, so we have every character, even the lowliest peasant in the forbidden closed-off city of Lhasa in 1943, speak perfect English, also with dubious accents. Of course, the trickiest part is how to handle the spiritual and political aspects of the story, so what we do is this: we have the Dalai Lama befriend the now-reformed Nazi because the latter is so good at fiddling with film projectors, radios, antique cars, and any other devices with represent the freedom of the capitalist west. In return, our hero learns from his young protegé a kind of vague, undefined Buddhism which is never really brought out or treated in a serious fashion. We also have lots of scenes with the hero flaunting all the marks of respects and protocol which the rest of the Tibetan society accords the Dalai Lama, even as we pretend that the hero has deep and profound reverence for these people and their spiritual leader. In other words, we just expect the audience to believe that this guy is now a Buddhist, sort of, in his own way, even though we ourselves don´t seem to know what his transformation entails or how far we want it to go. And last but not least, we hang a statistic onto the end of the film about how appallingly the Chinese have treated the Tibetans (which is certainly true), thus opening ourselves up to charges that we have made a "political" movie, even though it is nothing of the sort. So, zat ist my idea. Vat do you zink? Can ve make zis movie?

Only for Brad Pitt fans

This movie bears little relationship to the book, which is a narrative of one man's difficult struggle to exist under trying circumstances. The book is fascinating, and tells us much about life in Tibet. The movie, on the other hand, was transformed into a story about how Brad Pitt discovers meaning in life. At least I'm guessing that was the theme, because I quit watching after an hour. Brad Pitt's voyage of discovery entertains little, and informs not at all. The one plus is that the scenery is spectacular.

They should have called the movie two guys in Tibet.

The only thing this movie had in common with the book was there were two guys in Tibet. If you want to enjoy this movie don't read the book first. You'll be very disappointed if you know the true story of what really happened. Very poor! Why can't Hollywood seem to ever get a story straight?

Where lies the truth?

I haven't read the book of the same title by Mr. Harrer, but have seen the film twice, once in English and later dubbed in German. I liked it very much, and so did my sons. Watching it the second time on Austrian TV had the advantage afterward of seeing an interview with Mr. Harrer by a female journalist who questioned him pretty hard about the facts.

The film is taken from Mr. Harrer's popular 1952 book of the same title, describing his personal experience in India and Tibet. In the interview he stated that, for an American film, he likes it, likes the way it portrays Tibet, and has seen the film about a dozen times. His friendship with the 'Dalai Lama' (a western title unknown in Tibet) still stands, that they speak largely Tibetan with each other whenever they meet (the Dalai Lama likes Austrian food, and Mr. Harrer said that the Tibetan kitchen is also very good). In response to the questioner's attempt to find weaknesses in the film, Mr. Harrer said mainly that the film does not really give the sense of the hardship and adventure of surviving in the mountains all the way to Llasa (I believe it!), that their experience was far more 'abenteurlich' than is portrayed. So, according to the interview, the film is largely faithful to the facts, grossly seen, including the end scene of Harrer with his son planting a Tibetan flag on an Austrian peak.

Finally, the interviewer asked Mr. Harrer about the '97 Stern magazine article uncovering his Nazi past. This is where my problems begin in reviewing this film. The film is not about Brad Pitt, who is completely irelevant, the film is about Heinrich Harrer. I have a severe problem with films and novels that are not true to history. As one of the earlier Popes said, one should tell the truth even if it causes a scandal.

Mr. Harrer spoke in the TV interview of having 'mitgemacht' (participated) with the Nazis, and that he very much regrets it. An open admission of a very bad choice is a good sign. His expression and words had the ring of thoughtfulness, not of having been cooked. But why did he agree to a whitewash in the film until the Stern article appeared, and why was the past not accurately portrayed in his book?

Meanwhile, I have read the 1997 Stern article. According to that article, papers in the government archive in Berlin show that Mr. Harrer had joined both the SA and SS, which was a big step beyond the then then-standard required participation of teenagers with the Hitlerjugend. Apparently, Mr. Harrer regrets and rejects his early terrible choices, but Hollywood directors should not use a good story to make a film without first establishing the facts. Harrer's and Aufschneiter's Nazi affiliations were brought into the American-made film only after German journalists made public pressure by writing the facts in a German magazine. Germany was occupied by Allied forces until the mid-ninties. American bases still persist in Germany from that period. Historic responsibility for the Holocaust is taught in German public schools. Therefore it is not an accident that sharp reporters smelled something and went after it.

I plan to read Mr. Harrer's book. I would like to know his account of how he and his partner survived in the Himalayas during their escape from the British prison, and how they came to terms with learning to speak Tibetan in Llasa. That it was a great adventure is beyond question. That the SA and SS performed savage criminal acts under completely psychopathic leaders is also beyond question. Kristalnacht took place in 1938, street battles with guns took place between the SA and armed socialist paramilitary groups in the early thirties, and Hitler had long before that published Mein Kampf in the twenties. No one from that period can convincingly claim to have been ignorant of the intentions of Hitler and his Nazis.

In any case, that doesn't take away from the extraordinary adventure that Mr. Harrer tells us about. Will be interesting to read his book and compare with Elliot's "An Unexpected light: Travels in Afghanistan".

Well done!

One of the best movies I have ever seen. It has a great plot, and Brad Pitt does a good job. It's worth watching.

Brad Pitt spreads his wings!

This film is beautiful in every way. The story of the 13th Dalai Lama and how he changed the life of a self-centered Olympic mountain climber. Brad Pitt shines and the direction and cinematography are breathtaking.

A beautiful movie

I think this movie is absolutely great.. They couldn't have possibly chosen a better person to base the movie on than the H.H. Dalai Lama. This movie was definitely touching, and had a great point to it. Brad Pitt did a great job in this movie, and he has definitely won my respect for portraying such a difficult role.

One Of The Most Unique Adventures Of The Twentieth Century

Tibet has certainly fascinated people all over the world. The hidden land in the most forbidding place on the planet not at either pole. In its day Lost Horrizon made quite a bit of money for its author James Hilton. But the real story of Heinrich Harrer is better than anything a fictional author could have thought up.Brad Pitt is Harrer in Seven Years In Tibet and this has become my favorite film of his. Heinrich Harrer, a world famous mountain climber and Austrian national hero goes on an expedition in 1939 to conquer an unclimbed peak in the Himalayas. While he's doing his mountain climbing Germany of which Austria is now part of marches into Poland and World War II begins. Harrer and his party are interred as enemy aliens.In 1942 Harrer escaped and he and a friend played by David Thewlis make their way into Tibet. The rest of the film is the seven years he spent there, centered around the unique friendship he formed with the child ruler of Tibet, the Dalai Lama. This in fact is the same Dalai Lama who today is possibly the world's greatest and non-aligned apostle of the gospel of peace.Brad Pitt is never better in the film than he is with the three child actors who play the Dalai Lama at various stages of his life. The physical hardship that he and Thewlis endure just getting into Tibet is adventure enough. But the spiritual journey he undergoes in his time there makes this one of the most unique adventure stories of the last century.One thing I liked about Seven Years in Tibet is that no effort was made to cover up Harrer's Nazi background. In an alternate universe one can speculate on what might have happened to him had he actually had to serve in the army in World War II. His internment saved him from possibly being involved any number of atrocities. God, fate, some kind of higher power saved him for something wonderful. The cinematography is breathtaking, this film had an incredible number of locations. Note that it was shot in British Columbia, in Argentina with the Andes serving as the Himalayas, Austria and even some establishing footage was shot in Tibet itself on the sly.Tibet's status is unique unto the world. It has been part of China since the Ming dynasty. It's referred to properly as the autonomous region of Tibet. China has given it autonomy in varying degrees over the past several centuries, it's never been truly independent. The Communist regime back in the days of Mao Tse-tung brutally asserted it's sovereignty a few times, most notably in late fifties when the Dalai Lama was forced to flee Tibet and live in Northern India where he resides to this day. That is when he's not traveling the world as it's foremost advocate of non-violence.It is sad that this film did not get more box office than it did. Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, director Jean Jacques Arnaud are all persona non grata in the People's Republic of China for making this film. Quite a market indeed to be shut out of for a stand for humanity.It's to be hoped that one day the Tibetans will be free. Until then they have their unique brand of Buddhism to sustain them and this wonderful film to tell their story.

Great story marred by poor Pitt acting

This is a great story that was poorly told in this movie. I felt like I was watching Brad Pitt in Tibet which is a testament to his poor acting skill. I really wanted to like this movie but was thoroughly disappointed. Even a soundtrack by Yo-Yo Ma could not save it. The directing was also distracting with poor pacing and choppy editing. I really wish this had been a great movie and I was rooting for it but it fell flat I am very sorry to say.

I Loved It !

I loved Seven Year's in Tibet.I taped it and watched it four times.I loved the story and the movie location. I recommended it to my in-laws and they also loved it. This is a movie a person could watch over and over again. The acting was very good on everyone's part. It was original,I never got bored and I liked the way it ended. This was a very,very good movie. People of all ages can watch this movie,it's for both young and old. I loved it. My congrat's to everyone in the movie for a job well done.