Seven Years in Tibet
(1997)

Country: USA

Genre: Adventure, Biography, Historical Drama

Synopsis

Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) leaves his pregnant wife behind in Europe in order to scale a Himalayan peak; but his attempt is interrupted when he finds himself taken as a prisoner of war by British Indian authorities at the beginning of World War II. After several attempts, Harrer finally escapes the POW camp in 1944 and crosses into Tibet. Meanwhile, his wife has divorced him and married another man. When the war ends, Harrer plans to return to Austria, but changes his mind when he receives a cold letter from his son Rolf, rejecting him as his father. Soon afterwards, Harrer is invited to the Potala Palace and becomes the tutor in world geography, science and Western culture to the 14th Dalai Lama. In 1951, having become a wiser and humbler person as a result of his years in Tibet, Harrer returns to Austria where he succeeds in establishing a relationship with his son.

Notes

• Based on the 1952 autobiographical travel book "Sieben Jahre in Tibet: Mein Leben am Hofe des Dalai Lama" ("Seven years in Tibet: My Life at the Court of the Dalai Lama", first published in English as "Seven Years in Tibet", Rupert Hart-Davis, 1953) by Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006). The book was translated into 53 languages, becoming a bestseller in the United States in 1954. In 1956, a feature-length documentary film based on the book, and also called "Seven Years in Tibet", was released, and was entered into the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has written that "Harrer has always been such a friend to Tibet. His most important contribution to our cause, his book, Seven Years in Tibet, introduced hundreds of thousands of people to my country." On the occasion of Harrer's death, the Dalai Lama expressed his sorrow at the news, remarking that "Heinrich Harrer was a personal friend and taught me English, an Austrian English teacher!"