Some people are just larger than life. Whatever happens to them seems to be filled with magic and serendipities. Meetings, travels, adventures, creativity and all the other things that matter in life are sprayed like stardust on their brows, and they roll with it in inspiring ways.
Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (1912-2006) was certainly one of these people. While on an expedition to climb the Nanga-Parbat peaks in the Himalayas, the second world war broke out. Harrer was interned by the British in India, but managed to escape after several attempts. He went straight over the Himalayas together with fellow mountaineer Peter Aufschnaiter and headed for the almost mythical capital of Shangri-La-cum-Tibet. That is, Lhasa.
Not only did they reach Lhasa; Harrer also eventually became the teacher of the 14th Dalai Lama and stayed for… That’s right: seven years in Tibet. As if that wasn’t cool enough, the Dalai Lama also provided the Austrian with a home movie camera, so he could document Tibetan life and customs. It was a like a secret deal between the two, and the rolls of films had to be smuggled out of Tibet in order to be processed!
As the Chinese started making trouble in 1950, Harrer decided to leave Tibet, while at the same time documenting the Dalai Lama’s excursion into temporary safety. The Tibetan leader, however, decided to stay on in Tibet. But when the Chinese invaded full scale in 1959, the Dalai Lama had no choice but to go into proper exile in India.
By then, Heinrich Harrer had returned to Europe and already written his bestselling book Seven Years In Tibet (1957). To tie in with the success of the book, director Hans Nieter assembled a ”drama documentary” of the same name.
Nieter & Harrer’s film is a simple one. (Re)enactments of key events in the story constitute the basis, with Harrer and Aufschnaiter playing themselves (!), and with buddhist words of wisdom conveyed by actors in costume. But it is Harrer’s own material that makes this film truly unique. Scenes from daily life in Lhasa, monasteries, traditional dances, processions, the Dalai Lama blessing people (and mischievously smiling at Harrer’s hidden camera), and the stark landscape of the Tibetan Himalayas create a mosaic into which the narrative reenactments almost become secondary in importance.
It’s a weird film, in the sense of ”temporary dissociation” or ”displacement.” You’re not always sure where you are in the big picture, but there are loose threads enough to put you back in your place as viewer. In some ways, this film is an unknowing ancestor of the Italian Mondo films; taking you on a wild ride through a Ripley-esque (as in ”Believe It Or Not!” – not the Patricia Highsmith kind) assemblage of weird and unique phenomena of the world.
No matter what, ”Seven Years In Tibet” is a wonderful and absolutely mind-boggling film. What it lacks in technical expertise and polished narrative surfaces, it more than makes up for in hyperreal acumen and magical inspiration.
