Pretty Good, DespiteThe Bias

Rating: 7/10 (18 April 2006)

Even though this probably was a just a propaganda piece for the Dali Lama, I found it a surprisingly good story.
Nice to see Brad Pitt in such a restrained role. Unlike Christianity, the religious matter here is treated with reverence by Hollywood but that aside, it remains an interesting story of Henrik Harrer (Pitt) his adventures getting to Tibet with his friend " Peter Aufschnaiter" (David Thewlis) and then his relationship to the young Dali Lama.
The film is as pretty as you would expect from one in such mountainous surroundings . There are really nice colors in here and the movie looks just great on DVD. The story bogs down a bit in places but not for too long as it tells of Harrer's escape from the Western world and from participating in WWII. He winds up spending seven years in Tibet, hence the title.
Finally, I thought the soundtrack was good, too, featuring an instrument I don't know but love its sound. The cinematography in here, and justifiably, gets a lot of attention, but the music is great, too.