The recent Chinese oppression in Tibet got me thinking about this movie. Of course, 10 years ago I'd watched it as a kid, but I found that I could recall very little. I was most surprised to find that it was taken from the autobiography of an Austrian mountain climber and so naturally, the first half of the movie is about scaling peaks.The Free Tibet sentiment is a lost movement. Against the incredible clout of the PRC, Tibetans stand no chance of independence. While the Dalai Lama waits in exile, his country is being buried in Chinese government resocialization programs.This is one of the only examples I can think of when nonviolent resistance has failed.
The Tibetan people once ruled their own mountain empire. They had their own imperial palace, their own military, and their own Sino-Tibetan language much as Korea, Vietnam, or Mongolia has now. They have coexisted with the Han Chinese for thousands of years.
The communist hatred for religion changed that. Under the banner of One China, they put Tibet under military control and wiped out Tibetan spiritual culture to "eliminate the old evils". This historical event is what is shown in the second half of the movie. Overall, this movie is about a traveler who became great friends with the Dalai Lama, and it's tragic when bad things happen to your friends. It should be, anyway.
Rating: 75%
When I watch this, I get this feeling that it is comparing Nazi Germany to Communist China. Well, why not, the similarities lie in their appetite for annexing land and killing millions.
Pro-Tibetan
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