JEAN-JACQUES ANNAUD
SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET (1997)
Release Date : 13/09/1997Soundtrack : John Williams
Script : Becky Johnston
Awards : Gold Award from the Guild of German Art House Cinemas (Germany). Best Film of the Year (Germany). Rembrandt Award of Best Actor for Brad Pitt (Nederlands). PFS Award for Peace at the Political Film Society (USA).
Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) is one of the best mountaineers of his time. In May 1939, he is 26 years old and leaves Austria for the Himalayas with Peter Aufschnaiter (David Thewlis). They try to climb an unspoilt summit: the Nanga Parbat. However, war has broken out and this territory is British. The expedition members are interned in a camp. Harrer and Aufschnaiter manage to escape in 1944. A long wandering journey leads them to Tibet. They reach the forbidden city of Lhasa where the young Dalai Lama (Jamyang Wangchuck) lives. Peter finds love (Lhapka Tsamchoe), whereas Harrer discovers new values with the young spiritual guide that he befriends. The mountaineer gradually becomes aware of the monstrosity in which he believed. He discovers a world where the individual is not recognized for his glory, but for his humility and his capacity for renunciation.
