Seven Years in Tibet 1997

Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 American biographical war drama film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. It is based on Austrian mountaineer and Schutzstaffel (SS) sergeant Heinrich Harrer's 1952 memoir of the same name, about his experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951. Seven Years in Tibet stars Brad Pitt and David Thewlis, and has music composed by John Williams with a feature performance by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In the film, Harrer (Pitt) and fellow Austrian Peter Aufschnaiter (Thewlis) are mountaineering in the 1930s India. When World War II begins in 1939, their German citizenship results in their imprisonment in a British prisoner-of-war camp in Dehradun in the Himalayas. In 1944, Harrer and Aufschnaiter escape the prison and cross the border into Tibet, traversing the treacherous high plateau. There, after initially being ordered to return to India, they are welcomed at the holy city of Lhasa and become absorbed into an unfamiliar way of life. Harrer is introduced to the 14th Dalai Lama, still a boy, and becomes one of his tutors. During their time together, Harrer becomes a close friend to the young spiritual leader.