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Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

Biography | 139 minutes
3,31 2.012 votes

Genre: Biography / Adventure

Duration: 139 minuten

Country: United States / United Kingdom

Directed by: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Stars: Brad Pitt, BD Wong and David Thewlis

IMDb score: 7,1 (165.844)

Releasedate: 12 September 1997

Seven Years in Tibet plot

"At the end of the world his real journey began."

Heinrich Harrer is an Austrian with Nazi sympathies who in 1939 decides to climb two Himalayan mountains. Through a series of events, he and fellow climber Peter Aufschnaiter become the only two foreigners in the Tibetan holy city of Lhasa. There Heinrich's life takes a drastic turn.

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Full Cast & Crew

Actors and actresses

Heinrich Harrer

Dalai Lama, 14 Years Old

Peter Aufschnaiter

Ngawang Jigme

Kungo Tsarong

British Officer

Chinese 'Amban'

Reviews & comments


avatar

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avatar van rep_robert

rep_robert

  • 27517 messages
  • 4082 votes

Seven Years in Tibet touched my childhood. The friendship between Harrer and the Dalai Lama is inspiring and at the time made me take an interest in the Tibetan cause.

Now more than 20 years later I have watched the blu-ray and it just strikes me that this is another film from another era. The positive thing about this is that filming was actually done on locations and you can see that in the film. The film is completely believable in portraying mountainous Tibet and the many (secretly recorded) shots of the Himalayas are breathtaking. You never have the impression that you are watching a movie in this area. You imagine yourself in Tibet.

The downside to the fact that it's a 90s movie is that they weren't that busy speaking the local languages back then. Everyone speaks English. Nowadays they try to convey that better and you have, for example, international actors who can interpret someone from their country credibly. Pitt as the German Harrer feels unbelievable at first, but Pitt is big enough as an actor to make you forget this after a while. I do appreciate his character. He is who he is and he is not over-romanticized. He was just a jellyfish before he visited Tibet and that should come out.

Where the first half of the film has a long run-up and takes its time for everything, the third act feels very rushed and the film actually deserves an hour of extra exploration about the mutual relationship, but also the establishment of the 17-point agreement. and what impact this had.

Of course the film stays true to the book and stalls around 1952, maybe it can also be seen as a positive that I actually want to see more and was sorry that it ended so rushed.

3.5 * stay neat

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avatar van Sergio Leone

Sergio Leone

  • 4403 messages
  • 3088 votes

Entertaining.

A heavily bleached Brad Pitt can't really shine in this drama about Heinrich Harrer and Tibet. He has not mastered the Austrian accent and that is a miss. Good for him, the beautiful scenery is actually the protagonist. The scenery is amazing - without the coronavirus I would have done a trekking in the Himalayas myself in the spring, I love that atmosphere. Jean-Jacques Annaud makes good use of this.

After that more adventurous first hour, the focus changes and people move more towards the political side. The gloomy peace story of the Dalai Lamas of this world doesn't do much for me in itself, but it speaks volumes that China was not happy with this film and Pitt and David Thewlis are persona non grata in that country for life.

So it's an interesting history lesson anyway, especially against that fantastic backdrop, but not a masterpiece from a cinematic point of view.

3

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avatar van Film Pegasus

Film Pegasus (moderator films)

  • 31144 messages
  • 5447 votes

A romanticized adventure film of the blond god Brad Pitt in Tibet. Broadly speaking, it really happened, although the whole thing does have a dreamy atmosphere. Enhanced by the music of John Williams and the voice over scenes in which Harrer writes letters home melancholy, or notes something in his diary. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud made a somewhat rougher and more impressive film with The Name of the Rose. Moreover, the real horror (invasion of China in Tibet) is put in the background.

But the movie isn't bad either. Pitt manages - despite his bad accent - to carry the film. Although he sometimes remains an arrogant macho. No idea what the real Heinrich Harrer was like. The story is also fun and entertaining. A movie of its time.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original