Piano to Zanskar

This documentary follows an English veteran piano tuner called Desmond Gentle, who embarks on a mission to deliver a 100-year old piano to a small village high up in the Himalayas, transported using only people and yaks. In doing so, this will make this piano the highest in the world.

This is the kind of story that celebrated German film-maker Werner Herzog could easily have documented, after all, he pulled a steamboat over a hill in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. The only difference is that Piano to Zanskar doesn't have a demented maniac like Klaus Kinski raving about like a madman on the periphery making a difficult objective borderline impossible. The people in this wilderness trek are all low-key, humble individuals so there are no heavy melodramas to be found here. The journey is not without drama, however, as the footage of the somewhat quite obviously dangerous descent down a mountainside with large piano makes abundantly clear. But, ultimately, this documentary becomes less about the trek itself than the overall objective. The people of Lingshed are fascinating in themselves. They are mostly cut-off from the rest of the world, so their way of life is much more different to our own. They value, far more, the simple pleasures in life in which we sometimes forget. So, when this 100-year old piano is reconstructed and played for the first time in this place in the middle of the mountains, its has a beautiful impact. There are other unusual moments to savour too, such as when Gentle's young female assistant leads a bunch of children through a dance routine where they all singalong to 'Movin' on Up' by Primal Scream. It is a beautiful, strange moment and, needless to say, I don't think it is one Bobby Gillespie and the boys could have envisioned their ecstasy-fuelled anthem ever being used for.

This is a highly meditative documentary, which also boasts some beautiful photography of a dramatic natural environment. It is low-key and somewhat spiritual in effect and is well worth checking out.

The Tibetan cultural area stretches from Ladakh in the west to Sichuan in the east. The idea of bringing a piano to one of the most elevated and remotest villages in this area is indeed both ridiculous and beautiful at the same time. As the initiator of this project, Desmond O'Keeffe is consumed by doubt wether he should have done this, we see the people who carry the heavy metal frame across the mountain passes stay invariably enthousiastic. It was heartwarming to see their unconditional joy.

I loved the endearing Anna Ray and her tender friendship with Desmond O'Keeffe.

Like every sensible person, you can ask why this was done and the answer will be: because it adds sheer beauty to this world.

Having been to Zanskar 30 years ago, I was intrigued by this doco. However, after 30 minutes you realise this doco is done "for the film-makers" and not according to reality. I arrived in Zanskar in 1991 on a bus. That is, you can drive to Zanskar. And unless you're delivering the piano to one of the outlying villages, you don't need yaks. There are probably roads to them now. So the mini-van which rocked up to Laddakh with the piano would have been perfectly capable of going to Zanskar. The scenery in the film is good though. The "hardness" of the premise is completely false.