When he finally meets Tibet's young Buddhocrat, Mr. Pitt is blown off the screen by the debut performance of young Jamyang Wangchuk as the boy king who finds Harrer fascinating and begs him for details about things Occidental. At one point, the Lama commissions his Austrian tutor to build him a movie theater. When the crew starts digging, they have to stop because they don't want to hurt the worms in the ground. After all, one of those critters might be somebody's reincarnated mother. So Harrer has workers pick through the dirt to rescue the worms and transplant them.
Ancient superstition is played as cute and charming.
We're supposed to praise the extent of the culture's pacifism. The sequence simultaneously ennobles and patronizes Tibetan Buddhist culture. The last third of the movie features Chinese behaving badly. The Tibetans extend every formal courtesy to three visiting generals who return only insults and disrespect. The Chinese invade and the weak nation is quickly conquered.