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Seven years in Tibet - Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, Jean-Jacques Annaud

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

At the outbreak of World War II, two German mountaineers attempted to climb one of the highest peaks of the Himalayas. On their journey, they were captured and incarcerated in a British prison camp.

After managing to escape, Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) and Peter Aufschnaiter (David Thewlis) came to seek refuge in Tibet; a territory that was mysterious and new to the Germans in its spirituality and values.

In Tibet, Harrer met the young Dalai Lama and became both his tutor and his student. During his seven years in Tibet, he discovered not only a new way of life bit also himself at a time of tremendous political upheaval in that country.

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud.

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

Brad Pitt in the bath, Brad Pitt in the rain, Brad Pitt in his underwear. Oh, and some guy called the Dalai Lama.

Brad's abs aside, though, this is a serious historical peek into the rise and fall of the Third Reich at the hands of the Allies, and the fall of Tibet at the hands of the Chinese. Mixed in with this is the obsession of one man - Heinrich - to be the best. Even with his clothes on, Brad's delicious apple strudel Austrian accent and Nazi pin-up boy looks are undercut by the arrogance we associate with Aryanism, then dissolved by the spirituality of His Holiness. To put it another way, Brad is a really good actor; I can't wait until I'm directing him so I can see how far I can push him.

I found the film (at 136 minutes) to be a bit long.

Anyhow, Seven years in Tibet is an important documentation of the tyranny of the Chinese (and makes no apologies for being so) and an interesting look at one man's life. For those who enjoy such things, being able to perve at Brad's body is just a bonus.

Security censorship classification

M (Low level violence)

Surveillance time

136 minutes (2:16 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

3 February 1999