A new kind of religious discovery as blonde-haired, blue-eyed
Austrian Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) is climbing every
mountain not so much to the sound of music as to the sound of
a different drummer. (Has anyone seen "Joanna Lumley in the
Land of the Dragon", a recent BBC travel documentary starring
Patsy of Ab Fab fame? It might have quite easily also have
been titled "Seven Days in Tibet" and they could also have
referred to our Joanna as little yellow head while she
contemplates more Eastern religion and displays more prayer
wheels than the hunky flavored American seen in this film
sporting a broken German accent.) No mind-moving
mandalas here, folks, only a bad excuse for a star vehicle with
which the producers discovered, later than might have been
wished, that their hero used to be a home-grown Nazi before
he became the esoteric teacher of the 4-year old Dalai Lama.
(Come to think of it, the film about the making of the film might
have served as material for a comedy romp.)
In 1939, the egocentric and hard headed Harrer leaves his
distraught wife, Ingrid, heavily pregnant as he leaves to
conquer Nanga Parbat. Naturally, this man is destined to
become an Austrian national hero. (Things, however, as we
shall discover, proceed differently than planned because of
that nasty World War interfering not only with his life, but also
with his plans.) His mind wandering sometimes toward his
newborn child whilst he dangles from the mountain range, he
badly injures his leg and later endangers the life of co-climber
Peter Aufschnaiter (David Thewlis). As a result, their
relationship takes a dive. When they arrive back at ground
level, they are surprised to discover that the war has begun
and they are technically behind enemy lines. Placed under
immediate arrest, he will, after endless attempts, escape from
the British P.O.W. camp. While enjoying the hospitality of Her
British Majesty, he discovers that his wife has traded her high-
reaching Harrer for one Horst and has further decided to tell
their son that his father has died in a climbing accident. All
this distressing news makes him want to escape even more
than he did before. The Forbidden City of Lhasa in Tibet is
where the arrogant teutonic dreamboat cum Austran
mountaineer winds up. It looks like seven years in Tibet for
Heinrich, so he better get used to it. He should, in fact, be
happy about it, because, despite the dangerous part of the
journey, it is not usual for strangers to be welcomed there.
Not only does he become welcomed, but the little Dalai Lama
becomes completely enchanted with him. (Well, after all, it is
Brad Pitt. The Last Emperor, it is not.)
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud has done marvelous things in
the past with cave people who can't speak and bears who
need do no more than growl, but it seems he's met his match
with actors who can enunciate syllables and form words. His
use of scenery is, as usual, stunning, but that doesn't manage
to carry it off. Assisted by a deplorably naive and
presumptuous screenplay written by Becky Johnston which
pretends to contain a message (,though where it might be
hidden seems more mystical than the tale itself). The story,
one assumes, of a man in search of himself with the
Himalayas as background; the question, at the end of the film,
remains looming as large as the landscape. David Thewlis
adds what grace he is able to, despite dialogue too thin to
display his or anyone's capabilities.
The scenery is nice. You have to give it that. I more than
expected Pitt as the newly enlightened Harrar at the end of the
film, atop the mountain with Rolf, his "jungend," some years
later, to break into a verse of "Unser fahne flattert uns voran."
© 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett
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