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Up to this time I had not previously watched the movie “Seven Years In Tibet.” Listed below are what I saw as the philosophical themes of the movie and how I believe it ties into our world religions course.

The Movie, while including forms of the Tibetan culture and interactions with the Dali Lama is more about the transformation of Austrian Born Heinrich Harrer than about the Dalai Lama or the Tibetan beliefs in Buddhism. Harrer is a young mountain climber, attempting to conquer with his German based team, Nanga Parbat, an previously unclimbed mountain in the Himalayas. Harrer is doing this for his own personal satisfaction while the rest of the German climbing team is doing it for the greater glory of their country.

Harrer, takes this climbing task while leaving his pregnant wife and their apparent unresolved conflicts behind. His pride and selfishness become fatally evident while on the expedition as he endangers the lives of himself and the other climbers by not reporting an injury to his leg and continually pushing the team to move upward even though the weather and landslides are worsening. Eventually the expedition fails due to weather, and the return home also fails due to war between the British and Germany. The climbers descend into India, a British colony, and are immediately taken as prisoners of war.

In the prison camp, we continue to see the pride and selfishness of Harrer's character, which is just as tormented as it is tormenting others. He repeatedly attempts escapes by himself, however with each failed attempt it brings tighter restrictions on his fellow prison mates. Overtime he finds that he can not escape, neither from the British captors, or from himself and his growing remorse about leaving his wife and child.

Eventually, Harrer does escape, but only when he learns to cooperate with some of his prison mates, one of whom, Peter Aufschnitter was the captain of the German failed expedition. Together, he and Peter wander across the Tibetan mountains for years, seeking refuge and generally not finding it. They endure an escape from bandits, and clashing together as they becoming the close friends. It is during this time that Harrer's transformation begins. Eventually, both men do find a relief and friends in the holy city of Lhasa. They remain there for a while waiting for the war to end. After the war ends, they continue to stay in Tibet, Aufschnitter because he has married and found his happiness with a Tibetan woman, and Harrer, because he has nothing to lead him anywhere else. Harrer's life changes when the young Dalai Lama sends for him, and commissions him to build a movie theater. The Dalai Lama is a inquisitive and humble ruler in training. He is eager to learn everything possible about the world, and Harrer becomes his tutor in this endeavor.

During this time, the Chinese eventually begin the war against Tibet. We see scenes of the descent from peace to murderous destruction. The Tibetan people call for peace, however the Chinese want nothing to do with it. We then see the Tibetans move to organize and army to defend themselves. Harrer sensing the trouble, arranges for a way for the Dalai Lam to escape, however the future leader out of love for his people and his duty (he calls it his path to liberation) the young Lama remains with his people. The young Lama then convinces Harrer that he should go back to Austria and become a father for his son.

There are glimpses of the Tibetan culture. The Tibetans are a peaceful people, very devoted to their religion, customs, beliefs and their leadership. We learn that Tibetans travel long distances, facing hard journeys, as way of paying a penance for their wrong doings. At one point Harrer mentioned that he too has traveled very long distances and still isn't sure if he'll ever make up for his prior wrong doings. Tibetan have very stringent protocol regarding how one is to act in the presence of the Dalai Lama. They showed their devotion to their ancient texts, shunning away foreigners, but still being very kind and helping beings. Their displayed a great respect for anything living. In one scene while digging to build the foundation for the movie theater we see their unwillingness to hurt anything, including the earthworms (they feel that any creature could have been a mother for someone else in a prior life.)

It is probably the sense of peace, the love and service they showed each other, that helped Harrer further with his transformation. When asked what he liked best about mountain climbing, his answer was simplicity, simplicity of focus, ability to clear his mind and have peace. To me this seemed very similar to the state in which the Hindus aspire to help them achieve their path to liberation from the distractions of the mind and desire to reach the spiritual self. In later scenes we see Harrer doing the same ritual signs of reverence to the Dalai Lama at his coronation as the people's leader.

Through this movie, I was able to see and appreciate the way of life these people lived in and respected. Perhaps this was due to my own recent study of eastern religions and their philosophies of life. This movie helped somewhat to visualize in context what I had been learning.