Himalaya

Certain exotic locations and cultures are better experienced via film than in real life-especially when lacking the stamina and endurance. The Nepalese who trek across the mountains of the Dolpo Valley fit into this category. That's why I'm thankful that French filmmaker Eric Valli lived in Nepal for many years and has crafted Himalaya after taking pictures for Life magazine and National Geographic, filming some documentaries, and acting as a unit director on Seven Years in Tibet. The main strengths of the film rely on the intimate knowledge that Valli has gained over the years and on the relationships that he has formed with the people. Thus, the actors are no Brad Pitt types, but are real Tibetans from the Nepalese region.

Of course using non-professional actors has some drawbacks. While lending authenticity to the story and making much of the subtitled Himalaya feel like a documentary, some of the dramatic scenes play awkwardly. But this is a small quibble for the results that Valli achieves with this visually breathtaking and enlightening film.

The opening scene alone with the feet of a caravan of yaks kicking up the dust as we hear Buddhist chanting mixed in with Bruno Coulais' ethereal musical score lets us know that we are in for a wonderful experience. Valli delivers. Far superior to the misguided Seven Years in Tibet, Valli's film deals with similar cultural territory to Scorsese's magical Kundun while having a format that parallels the remarkable Iranian film A Time for Drunken Horses.

Like Bahman Ghobadi's film, Himalaya focuses on the struggle of a small group of people from a village that has relied on tradition and Religion to maintain their subsistence lifestyle high in the Nepalese Himalayas. As the aging Tinle (Thilen Lhondup) discusses how the village will require much more grain to survive the long winter with his grandson Pasang (played by the young scene stealing Karma Wangle), the caravan returns with the village chief, who has accidentally fallen to his death. The village chief happens to be Tinle's son, and the angered old man unjustly blames Karma (Gurgon Kyap) for his son's death.

Complicating the situation is the fact that logic dictates the most capable man must lead the next caravan to exchange salt for grain, and Karma is the choice of the wiser heads of the village. But this decision is now adamantly opposed by Tinle, who now insists that he will again lead the caravan with his old yak and other old men.

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