Himalaia

Usually I complain that not many good movies make it to Las Vegas. This beautiful film is one of the best photographed film I haver ever seen. Every shot could be framed and would make a great picture. That alone would be worth while to see it, but the plot is interesting and shows us the life and problems of a different culture. I was captivated from the beginning to the end and realized that even if I would go to Nepal I would never have a chance to get such an insight into the people and experience the land the same way. Go and see it.

This film is about conflict & mistrust between generations. Walking is the minor element. The mutual mistrust between the 2 generations were very well portrayed. Although there was an obligatory change from mistrust to mutual respect, the story is still very convincing and gripping. The film almost seemed like a documentary of the villagers' life, which is what makes the film even more interesting.

The location of filming were really stunning. The scenery of the barren mountains and snowy mountains were totally breathtaking. This film may be boring for some people, but for people interested in the Tibetan culture, this is a film for you.

US or European movies about non-US, non-European people are usually faulty, even when they mean well : often, they need to use some bland occidental character (think Brad Pitt in "7 years in Tibet"), or the non-occidental people are actually occidental people with make-up and funny accents, or everybody speaks English but the bad guys, or everybody behaves like a bunch of Californian housewives or New York traders. So I was a little apprehensive about "Himalaya". Fortunately, French director Eric Valli knows the Himalayan (Dolpo) people he's filming, he has been living with them for years and speaks their language. So what we got here is a true movie, with true cinematic characters, a true plot and no condescending stuff. It's actually amazing to behold a story where the people have problems so remote from the ones someone from Paris, France can have (like having to set up a 2-weeks cattle drive across Himalaya to trade salt against barley), and however these problems and emotions are made more real than, say, a comedy about bourgeoisie with sex trouble. Not that the plot is truly original : it deals, in a rather classic way and not unlike some war movies, with the essence of leadership (the original French title is "Himalaya, the youth of a chief"). What makes a leader, and how and why can leadership be challenged ? Why people do follow some leaders and not other ? From what we see in the film, these are questions that people who live in such extreme conditions find of extreme importance. Add a magnificent scenery (no need for filters for clear blue lakes there) and talented actors who literally inhabit their complex roles (partly because they've been in situations like this or know people who have), and here is one impressive adventure movie.

I have climbed up a glacier in New Zealand and down a mountain in Switzerland, and it was rough going for a middle-aged film critic. However, truly rough it can be if you're old, live in the Himalayas, and need to spend a couple of weeks taking your yak and salt to get some grain for winter survival.

Photographer Eric Valli's beautiful epic film `Himalaya' is the first Nepalese film to be nominated (in 1999) for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It is also a heroic fable of a small community's struggle to change the guard from old to young and retain the respect of the gods. The simple plot, told in every culture that has any notion of the grandeur of place and power, may deceive some into thinking this a small cliched film. It is rather a grand design of human struggle and triumph, figuratively and realistically represented in the salt caravans that still traverse the majestic Himalayan Mountains in Tibet.

When one of the caravans tries to cut off 4 days by attempting a route reserved for the devils, the ensuing danger as yaks and humans walk the narrow path is so beautiful and harrowing that my glacier experience looks now like a picnic. Blue sky above, blue water below, and a path so dangerous indeed the gods themselves would have second thoughts. Valli's cinemascope is the perfect medium to catch the overpowering mountains and miniscule stones, both instruments of the terrible powers those gods still wield in this other world.

The actors are handsome locals, and the story is right out of Shakespeare and Howard Hawks. See this film before you get too old to breathe its artistic air.

I'm glad I've seen this one at the movie theater! Such a beautiful piece of photography will, of course, look great on the TV, too. And the story is by no means secondary: a warm tale of human endurance, indeed. But watching those images of Nepal on the big screen was just something I thank heavens I was able to do! Delightful!