Word: harrer
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...story follows the adventures of one Heinrich Harrer (Pitt), an Austrian mountain climber whose mountaineering expedition eventually takes him to the holy Tibetan city of Lhasa. The journey marks an emotional awakening for Harrer, one that culminates in his befriending the Dalai Lama, whose friendship and spiritual guidance emboldens him to return to and face tangled domestic issues at home. The relative lack of compelling ideas and characters to identify with before this enlightenment--basically, during Harrer's journey to Tibet--acts as a foil for the movie's latter, more fulfilling half...
...director Jean-Jacques Annaud does deprive the audience of emotional stimulation of any kind, whether from cinematography or character development, until Harrer reaches Tibet. In one tense mountain-climbing scene in the Himalayas (or "Himilias," as Pitt refers to them), we see no panorama and remarkably little scenery in frame. Annaud keeps only the climbers in shot, and instead of majestic mountainscapes, only the snow and gray, gravely rock for a backdrop...
...slightly when his thoughts turn to the family he left behind, which include a divorced wife and a child he has never seen. This subject serves as a bridge to the satisfying emotional resolution in Tibet: it is while trying to establish a correspondence with his estranged son that Harrer first enters Tibet...
Annaud doesn't hit you over the head with anything, but he now allows prolonged glimpses of the beautiful Tibetan landscape, and almost on a dime, Pitt is inspired to treat people with some respect. Once Harrer reaches the city of Lhasa, the screen explodes with color as the Tibetan customs, artwork and religious traditions are presented. The stimulus-starved audience gains new focus immediately on a suddenly human Harrer and his attempt to assimilate to his new surroundings...
What follows is one of the most pleasant culture clashes in recent cinema, as Harrer and his travel companion and their newfound hosts explore each other's customs. The detailed and genuinely interesting presentation of Tibetan tradition are welcomed by a now emotionally fertile Harrer and audience, as are the sometimes humorous reactions of Tibetans to western ways...