Undoubtedly made famous by the film of the same name
starring Brad Pitt, Seven Years in Tibet,
as is usually the case, is a better book.
The story is visually stunning on screen, but the hardships and troubles
Heinrich Harrer and his partner experience getting to and surviving in the
Himalayan kingdom are revealed in more affective and detailed fashion on the
page. Having almost a fictional feel due to larger-than-life size of the story,
Harrer’s autobiography of his transition from prisoner in India to adviser to
the Dali Lama makes for amazing reading.
Working as an Austrian mountaineer at the outbreak
of Word War II, Harrer was suddenly “the enemy” in British occupied India as
Germany attacked in Europe. Placed in an
internment camp at the base of the Himalayas, Harrer bided his time and eventually
escaped along with Peter Aufschnaiter.
Their escape did not immediately reap benefits, however. The greatest mountain range in the world
greeting them, the pair’s plight through the Himalayas tested every bit of
integrity and will to survive they possessed, and is a great travelogue by
itself for anyone interested in survival stories of the range. Staggering into the Shangri-la kingdom in the
Tibetan plateau months later, suffering the long-term effects of altitude sickness
as well as bone and nerve issues, they hoped life would get better. Learning of the strange white men who’d found
their way into his land, the Dali Lama, then just a boy, opened communication
with the duo, and was soon absorbing every ounce of knowledge they had of the
outside world. The rest history, it’s
this relationship, and the titular seven years the two spent in Tibet that are
the truly poignant side of the tale.
