Seven Years in Tibet

I though there was something of the Jack Cardiff to the glorious photography in this slightly dramatised documentary about Heinrich Harrer, a man captured by the British in their North Western provinces of India but who, using a remarkably simple disguise, manages to escape with three colleagues. He is a mountaineer, and decides that north into the vast expanse of the Himalayan plateau is his best chance of survival. Luckily, he'd had the presence of mind to hide his compass in an old hut, so armed with that and precious little else he heads to the snow line. Along the way, he surprisingly meets up again with those he escaped with and so they all continue up the pass. The altitude and the cold drive them to near exhaustion, and two of them turn back leaving him and Peter Aufschnaiter to press on. With little to eat, they rely on the occasional goat-herder before finally arriving in the forbidden land of Tibet - where they are politely told to get lost. They persevere, though, and before long they arrive in a bustling and welcoming Lhasa. This film doesn't quite explain how this came about, but soon he is taking photographs for and then becomes good friends with the Dalai Lama. He is a curiously spiritual figure who lives in the grand palace and whom his people adore rather than worship. Not long after, the Red Chinese start to make their presence felt and the rest, as they say.…

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