Could have been a great adventure epic

Rating: 5/10 (14 November 1998)

7 years in Tibet has some excellent photography and exciting, National Geographic level, location shots. Brad Pitt is surprisingly good. His German accent is apparently coached by Schwarzenegger. We never read the book, but some of the dialog is simply atrocious. The " Nazi " beginning is totally ridiculous and not necessary. Even civilians wear swastica armbands. The ending of the film is totally wrong, it just does not fit the time, location, mood of the fifties in Austria. From a dramaturgical point the ending - as the beginning cheapens the film. The young Dalai Lama is wonderful and so are all the palace interiors and rituals. The various action scenes are badly directed AND cut. The whole movie needs some heavy pruning. A strong, merciless, editor could save the film without reshooting one scene !