True story of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who became friends with the Dalai Lama at the time of China's takeover of Tibet.True story of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who became friends with the Dalai Lama at the time of China's takeover of Tibet.True story of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who became friends with the Dalai Lama at the time of China's takeover of Tibet.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 8 nominations
BD Wong
- Ngawang Jigme
- (as B.D. Wong)
Ngawang Chojor
- Lord Chamberlain
- (as Ven. Ngawang Chojor)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJetsun Pema is the real-life sister of The Dalai Lama. In this film she plays the mother of The Dalai Lama and hence her own mother.
- GoofsWhen Peter bargains with his watch about how much food they should get he shows the 3 with three fingers (the British way) and not two fingers and the thumb (the German/Austrian way).
- Quotes
Dalai Lama: We have a saying in Tibet: If a problem can be solved there is no use worrying about it. If it can't be solved, worrying will do no good.
- Crazy creditsAs the end credits roll, a view of the mountains of Tibet is seen.
- SoundtracksPurification Et Benediction
Performed by Monks of Namgyal Monastere
Featured review
If it hadn't been that unnecessarily long, this would have been a masterpiece
It's too bad that the movie had to be 139 minutes long. It's not that I can't handle movies that are that long, but when watching longer movies, I expect that it has something to say during that extra time and that's where it sometimes went wrong with "Seven Years in Tibet". It just seemed to keep dragging on forever without contributing to the story.
It needs about 2/3 of the time to show what a bad guy Heinrich Harrer actually is and only 1/3 of the time to show how he changes and gradually becomes a good man. All he thinks about is his career as a mountain climber. In 1939, just before World War II, his wife is pregnant with their first child. Harrer doesn't want to take up his responsibility and 'flees' from her by going to Tibet, where he will try to conquer Mount Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas. Because he is an Austrian and because the Nazi's already have taken over power in Austria, they will use his successes to prove that the Germans are the best race (I hope I don't have to explain the entire Nazi ideology to you, but that you paid enough attention during history class). During his attempt to reach the summit he is arrested by the British and taken to a POW-camp. After several attempts to escape he finally succeeds and together with Peter Aufschnaiter he succeeds to reach Tibet. First he is his old, bad self, but gradually he changes his lifestyle and becomes more 'Tibetan'. He even knows to get the attention of the very young Dalai Lama and becomes friends with him during the period that the Chinese took over power in Tibet.
I don't know if all that is shown in this movie actually happened or to which extent some parts have been made up. Of course it is all a bit politically 'colored' (the Tibetan question is still not solved until today and so there will always be people who will choose China's side and say that what is shown here is completely wrong), but that doesn't mean that this movie doesn't carry a powerful message. But even without this message of being a good husband and not being a career driven jerk, the philosophical Tibetan approach to problems... this movie is very nice eye candy. The landscapes are absolutely stunning and Tibet really looks like a place that certainly is worth a visit. The acting is very good and it all looks very believable.
So despite the fact that this movie dragged on from time to time and that it should have been a bit shorter, this still is a very nice film. I give it a 7/10, perhaps even a 7.5/10.
It needs about 2/3 of the time to show what a bad guy Heinrich Harrer actually is and only 1/3 of the time to show how he changes and gradually becomes a good man. All he thinks about is his career as a mountain climber. In 1939, just before World War II, his wife is pregnant with their first child. Harrer doesn't want to take up his responsibility and 'flees' from her by going to Tibet, where he will try to conquer Mount Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas. Because he is an Austrian and because the Nazi's already have taken over power in Austria, they will use his successes to prove that the Germans are the best race (I hope I don't have to explain the entire Nazi ideology to you, but that you paid enough attention during history class). During his attempt to reach the summit he is arrested by the British and taken to a POW-camp. After several attempts to escape he finally succeeds and together with Peter Aufschnaiter he succeeds to reach Tibet. First he is his old, bad self, but gradually he changes his lifestyle and becomes more 'Tibetan'. He even knows to get the attention of the very young Dalai Lama and becomes friends with him during the period that the Chinese took over power in Tibet.
I don't know if all that is shown in this movie actually happened or to which extent some parts have been made up. Of course it is all a bit politically 'colored' (the Tibetan question is still not solved until today and so there will always be people who will choose China's side and say that what is shown here is completely wrong), but that doesn't mean that this movie doesn't carry a powerful message. But even without this message of being a good husband and not being a career driven jerk, the philosophical Tibetan approach to problems... this movie is very nice eye candy. The landscapes are absolutely stunning and Tibet really looks like a place that certainly is worth a visit. The acting is very good and it all looks very believable.
So despite the fact that this movie dragged on from time to time and that it should have been a bit shorter, this still is a very nice film. I give it a 7/10, perhaps even a 7.5/10.
helpful•2416
- philip_vanderveken
- Jan 31, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- Siete años en el Tibet
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $70,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $37,957,682
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $10,020,378
- Oct 12, 1997
- Gross worldwide
- $131,457,682
- Runtime2 hours 16 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
