Seven Years in Tibet

03.18.10
Seven Years in Tibet
(1997)
Starring: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, B.D. Wong


Seven Years in Tibet is a fascinating story that stretches across many landscapes and crosses many different cultural paths. The scenery is beautiful enough to captivate the viewer alone, but the plot is what really holds the story together. The storyline of Seven Years in Tibet was constructed in a very strategic way, that introduces the viewers to just enough political background information so as to not confuse and overwhelm, but to properly engage the audience into the political turmoil of the story at hand. This film deals primarily with the invasion of China into the peaceful Tibetan country, but also discusses the ramifications of the war in Germany reaching its' ugly fingers into the beautiful and seemingly untouched parts of the Asian hemisphere.Brad Pitt plays the olympic and nationally hailed climber that, at the request of the Nazi government, decides to scale the Himalayan mountains. Amidst injury and avalanches the German climbing crew is forced to retreat and is subsequently captured and imprisoned by the British Army as POW's. The story is just beginning at this point, later Brad Pitt begins a very close relationship with the Dalai Llama. This friendship between the two men of completely different life experiences and beliefs is the guiding principle behind the last half of the film. Despite the much critisized running time of the film, I thought that it was neccesary for the brevity and sheer volume of information covered in the film's time span. Seven Years in Tibet is a beautiful movie that consistently held my attention and is something i would highly reccomend.