Beginning my Russian Roulette of movies is Seven Years in Tibet. Though the name sounded highly familiar (for reasons I wouldn't realize until later), I knew pretty much nothing of this movie going in. I knew so little, in fact, that I was quite surprised to see Brad Pitt's face on the case as I removed it from the DVD shelf. With a name like that, I'd have assumed it'd be a movie from the late 50s early 60s. This may be untrue of the film, but not of the source material. However, a quick synopsis before I leap into my thoughts.

Seven Years in Tibet follows the exploits of a certain Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber, during the late 30s into the early 50s. After a failed mountain climbing expedition, he is detained by British soldiers (war was breaking out). He and another of his mountain climbing brigade escape captivity and stumble their way into Tibet. There, Harrer begins a new life in this foreign land and even winds up befriending the young Dalai Lama.

The first thing I must say about this film is how much it reminds me of Lawrence of Arabia, both in narrative and cinematography (which I will get to shortly). Both films are set about the same time period and follow a protagonist - who also happens to be based upon a real person - that has found himself in a foreign land which they enjoy immensely. I think that Tibet succeeds a little more than Lawrence in that it does a really good job in fleshing out the characters and, particularly, their relationships with each other, whereas Lawrence seems more focused on the titular character.

The performances from the actors are also very good, especially the kid they got to play the Dalai Lama. He plays Mr. Lama with all the grace that one would expect of the role, but also with a wide eyed curiosity as he questions Harrer about the world outside the monastery. Brad Pitt also plays his role well, going from arrogant ego-head in the beginning to a genuinely likable character at the end. His Austrian accent isn't the greatest, but I've heard worse. David Thewlis, who played Harrer's mountaineering companion Peter Aufschnaiter, was pretty awesome throughout the entire film, bringing an English attitude with an Austrian accent.

The cinematography for this Tibet is fantastic, capturing well the locales and feel of the time. I said before that the movie sounded like something from the mid-1900s, and it really does feel like it (sans all the weird fades that plague old movies). Being that there's much travelling taking place, there are a lot of wide shots of the outdoors and they all look phenomenal - probably because they actually shot outdoors as opposed to the cold, digital look of a green screen. As mentioned earlier, Tibet feels much like Lawrence in its visuals and I think it is because so much of the outdoors are shown with all the exotic villages interspersed between.

Finally, I must make mention of the music. I wasn't paying attention to the opening credits so I missed the composer, but somewhere towards the middle of the film I offhandedly commented that it sounded very John Williams-esque. As it turns out I was correct and not necessarily because I can pick a John Williams piece from a mile off. I pondered on the music a little more and realized that the theme from the movie was part of my John Williams - Greatest Hits album (which answered where I'd heard the movie title). Interestingly, there was a scratch on the disc where this song was so it would forever loop the last minute or so.

On an additional note, I believe that the Tibetan culture is the base for the Airbenders in Avatar.

In conclusion, I quite enjoyed this movie. It was a pleasure for the eyes and very well executed. There is a bit of a political agenda for the film, but such is to be expected when in real life China comes barging in and taking over the place. This, however, did not taint my enjoyment of the movie. I highly recommend this to anybody who enjoys film in any fashion(chances are you probably already have).

Tomorrow, (or rather, tonight by the time you read this), we take another journey to exotic lands...

A 45-minute guided tour of the interior of the NCC-1701...

Oh, and the rest of the movie that goes with it.