Seven Years In Tibet

This over extended, boring Tibetan travelogue does have big mountains, mounds of silly Tibetan hats and Brad Pitt, but lacks the sorts of punches or mountaineer's falls needed to flesh out over two hours. (It seemed to be even longer than that!)

Starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, Seven Years In Tibet is the film version of what I'm told was a very effective book. The book was written by the adventurer Heinrich Harrer, and was an autobiographical account of the development of a friendship between an Austrian escapee from the British during World War 1 (Harrer) and the young Dalai Lama, the spiritual and secular leader of Tibet at the time.

But somehow the film fails to develop the characters and the result is deflating.

The director was promising. Jean-Jacques Annaud had also given us a few years ago that wonderfully evocative tale called The Bear; a film that luxuriously engaged us within the wonders of nature and in particular, the stark cold countryside where its furry stars lived.

So a film set in Tibet, and directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, just had to be crammed full of spectacular scenery and in that regard Seven Years In Tibet is a winner.

There are also some extended early scenes involving old fashioned mountaineering; that type of rock and ice scampering where there's not a piece of plastic or kevlar in sight and where even the ropes are made of, well rope, and not the unnatural fibre used today.

Up until this time the major flaws of Seven Years In Tibet hadn't yet emerged and we could still enjoy the only segment of the film which contains some tension.

Both Brad Pitt and David Thewlis were in danger of falling in these opening sequences and it perhaps would have been better if they had. Then Jean-Jacques Annaud could have called in a bear, or perhaps a moose, or perhaps couple of yaks (do those things live in Tibet?) to save the day.

On reflection though a couple of young Dalai Lamas would have done the job nicely because it's only when these cute little guys pop up, about one and a quarter hours into the film, (there's three of them I think representing the lad at different ages), that the little punch and plot interest in Seven Years In Tibet emerges.

Brad Pitt fans I suppose will want to see Seven Years In Tibet, (I'm a Brad Pitt fan) but will probably also find the film disappointing. Pitt gets to often flash that boyish smile but this isn't one of his stronger films.

His Austrian accent in Seven Years In Tibet isn't nearly as effective as his Irish one in The Devil's Own and there isn't much else to recommend the film either. David Thewlis is very good in a weekly written part, but we're still to see anything from this man to compare with his tour de force performance in Naked.

The invasion of Tibet by China is portrayed in Seven Years In Tibet, but by the time that little number turns up I was already peering at my watch in the dark. Even the atrocious treatment of Tibet by the Chinese couldn't make Seven Years In Tibet interesting.