Himalaya : L'Enfance d'un chef

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.

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.

If you believe film should be an artform, then you'll love Himalaya. As the director states in the bonus audio track, the production team did not identify and write to a "target market" when developing the screen writing, they did not follow the dreary Hollywood "recipe" for film-making, and, most importantly, they did use non-actors to portray almost all the lead and back-up roles.

Tinle, the lead character, is a treasure. The first time I viewed the movie, I thought, 'what a wonderful actor.' His timing is exact yet unpredictable, his personality forceful, his face is exquisite, his form unique and authentic. A natural, I thought. Indeed, he plays himself in a quasi-autobiography, and what a wonderful character he is.

This is a movie about an ancient civilization we are losing and, sadly, will soon be lost. Really, its a documentary, and, as the director states, will certainly be used by future historians as a visual artifact of what is soon to become the lost Dolpo civilization of Nepal. The soundtrack conditions you to this heartbreaking reality.

The movie is successful on many levels: a mother's lost love (who hasn't seen her adult child since he was eight); a loving grandfather/grandson relationship, which is painfully lost; a wife who loses her husband, and a young boy who loses his father then attempts to make sense out of the loss; a young religious man who chooses the 'difficult' path over the easy monastic life; a classic confrontation between generations; and an old man whose entire life is built on strength, perseverance, and admiration, but then who ultimately must let go of it all to those who are destined to succeed him.

I loved this movie. It made me think of my mother, an artist, whom I miss dearly. Himalaya is a work of art.

One reviewer asks if we (Westerners) can ever see the world through another's (non-Westerner) eyes. Good question. There's no 'yes' or 'no' answer because we can't get into people's heads. The cultural viewpoint from the standpoint of the actor in the cultural setting is always different from the outsider. As intruders into that world, we can observe, wonder and learn. Yes, indeed like voyeurs, my friend but these are not "primitive" people. These are people who have adapted to a way of life and developed means of coping with it. Since many of these people live isolated lives, the cultural diffusion of technology invades their worlds slowly. (We anthropologists see this fact as a mercy) This film is a wonder. As one reviewer asks, can we watch a film for over a 100 minutes of people walking? It depends. What do you want? Adventure? Rent a Hollywood spawn with phony chases, lots of CGI and god-awful writing. This is a simple story but one basic to the human condition. Loss, death, coming of age, transition, love and resurrection. This film is full of archetypes but without the contrived devices found in so many Western films. The adventure is that of the daily lives of these people who live always on the edge. It is most unfair to judge this simple tale and its depiction from the same viewpoint of another mythic journey. There's only the violence of nature and the triumph of human will to survive-- not happily ever after, but just for another day. As an anthropologist who spent over 25 years working with pastoralists (nomadic herders) in Africa, Central Asia, South America and the Middle East, I was delighted with this unpretentious story. I never worked with yak or reindeer [I highly recommend the exceptional "Pathfinder" for an excellent view of the Lapps]herders and the presentation certainly squared with everything I've read about these dynamic, wonderful people.

The film, set in a remote Himalayan village in Nepal, is gorgeous start-to-finish, a labor of love by those who made it over a long period of time. The cinematography gets a lot of good "press," and rightfully so, but what I really enjoyed was the soundtrack. I expected the good visuals, and got them, but I didn't expect such wonderful music.

As for the look, it's different, with rugged barren mountain village terrain and snow-topped Himalayas in background, although we don't enjoy those until almost 50 minutes into the film.

What's really different, however is the fact the film employed no professional actors. These were real people of that area! They also faces you won't soon forget.

As for the story, the treks don't begin until 45 minutes has gone by in the film. You have to be patient. Much of that first part, people argue back and forth on the merits of making the trip and who would and should be going. Finally, we wind up with two separate camps: the younger guy "Karma" and his crowd and the older man, "Tinle," who takes his son, grandchild and his mother,and mainly older friends of the stubborn old coot of a leader.

Old man Tinle does nothing but bitch and moan most of the movie but people do their share of complaining to him, too. Yet, I found nobody unlikable for some strange reason. Most of the time, nobody in this village appears happy. These people must love to argue!

As one man say, speaking of Tinle: "Trying to talk to him is like trying to stop the snow from falling."

I liked the following: when asked why he changed his mind about going on the trip with Tinle, his son and lama-artist "Norbou,"" told his father, "After you left the monastery, I remembered what one of my masters said: "when two paths open up before you, always take the hard one."

I also thought the yaks were fascinating. . I'd like to know more about them after watching this movie.

Overall, it's a dramatic and touching adventure story. that will reward you if you can hang with it for first three-quarters of an hour. It also will make you grateful you weren't born in this part of the country.