I have this movie on video tape. I therefore have seen it many times. This movie is more about the development of Harrer's character and his spiritual self than about Tibet and the Dalai Lama, really. What happened to Harrer's obviously harsh and selfish personality in Tibet could have happened to him anywhere, only in a slight different way, I guess.

Who reads Harrer's book, "Sieben Jahre in Tibet" (Seven Years in Tibet) gets quite a different picture of Harrer. Apparently, the man had no reason to depict himself in his book the way he was depicted in the movie about his book. We can therefore say (at least I can, after having read the book) that Mr. Harrer was a man who was quite sure and confident of himself, but not the idle and selfish character Brad Pitt was to play in the movie. The book is more than anything else the journal of a scientist and mountaineer, on the run for the British authorities because of being an Austrian, who takes his time to describe everything happening to him travelling in this land, so seldomly visited by foreigners.

A better picture about the Dalai Lama, the situation when the Chinese arrive in Tibet and Tibetan culture can be seen in the movie "Kundun", directed by Martin Scorsese, for which HH the Dalai Lama himself has given advices and allowed facts to be taken from his autobiography. In this latter movie, there is no trace of Harrer. Apparently, the man has been in Tibet and in Lhasa for several years and he even has been a guest of the Potala and Norbulingka (the two palaces of HH in Lhasa), but apparently he was not such a big influence for Tibetan life and that of HH as "Seven Years in Tibet" suggested.

Nevertheless, "Seven Years.." is an interesting movie for those who would like to know what it is like for a western European career chaser to settle for some time in a country where, for the people there, there is only one pride: to be a humble as possible...*s*

Tan