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Seven Years in Tibet (Superbit...
Stars:
Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, B.D. Wong, Mako, Jamyang Jamitsho Wangchuk, Lhakpa
Tsamchoe, and Jetson Pema
Writer:
Becky Johnston
Based
On The Book By: Heinrich Harrer
Director:
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Feature
length: 134 minutes
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1997/DVD Release: 2003
Theatrical
Distributor: TriStar Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG-13
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Heinrich
(Brad Pitt) is an arrogant and famed Austrian mountain climber who leaves behind
his wife and yet to be born infant son to head on an expedition to the Himalayan
mountains only to fall into the hands of Allied forces as a prisoner of war.
Eventually he escapes with a fellow from the expedition (David Thewlis) and
eventually after many trials and tribulations find themselves in Tibet where
Heinrich eventually befriends the Western culture-obsessed teenage Dalai Lama (Jamyang
Jamitsho Wangchuk), which changes his life forever.
If
you can get passed Brad Pitt’s off sounding Austrian accent, “Seven Years In
Tibet” is a beautiful film directed by acclaimed filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud
(The Bear). On the spiritual path of many if not all cultures there is something
of a “Cleansing” that occurs to the devotee who seeks enlightenment. One can
look at days and nights Christ spent in the desert or Moses’ period among the
tribes outside Egypt before returning to free the Israelites as spiritual
cleansing. To break away the ego and the karma that holds a person as a prisoner
and become spiritually awakened or worthy of undertaking the path to
enlightenment is a path as difficult as anyone could imagine. Among the Hindu
faithful there is the passing on of the divine energy of the Guru to the
disciple known as “Shaktipat” that awakens the kundalini energy at the base
of the spine and begins the path toward enlightenment as the divine energy
dormant within the devotee moves up the chakras, which requires daily practices
in meditation and maybe lifetimes. Over the course of this quest a disciple or
seeker may undergo periods of unrest on some level of their lives as they work
through their karma to become worthy of spiritual enlightenment. The role of the
Guru is very much like having an incarnate of the divine on Earth. The Guru is
not there because he or she needs to resolve their own spiritual issues, but
rather they are here out of compassion for others to lead them out of the misery
of the physical world. This is a very simplified explanation of what the role of
the Dalai Lama meant and still means to many around the world. The great
setbacks and suffering Brad Pitt’s and David Thewlis’ characters go through
just to get into the Forbidden City within Tibet is an example of the archetypal
and spiritual cleansing the men must undergo before they are worthy to begin
their next level in their spiritual, mental, and emotional evolution. This type
of crucible can be seen in many stories because it is at the core of the human
psyche and heart and it is one of the elements that I admire about “Seven
Years In Tibet.”
This
is an excellent addition to Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment’s
“Superbit” collection of films on DVD because it truly captures the amazing
tapestries and colorful details perfectly due in part to the high bit rate
transfer used to master these films on DVD. The image quality is marvelous with
a lavish anamorphic widescreen (2. 35:1) aspect ratio presentation and a choice
of either English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound or Dolby Digital 5.1
Surround Sound. Both soundtrack choices are excellent and offer nearly the same
quality of discrete and enveloping home theater sound. I think the DTS is
slightly edgier than the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack and since I love
DTS, to my ears the DTS soundtrack seemed more powerful, but believe this when
you read it, both are excellent and if you do not have DTS playback capability,
I think you will still be pleased with the Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack. English Captions and Closed Captions and French and Spanish Language
Subtitles are also encoded onto the dual layered DVD as options.
“Seven
Years In Tibet: Superbit” is a superb DVD release that is a must have for
anyone interested in high quality picture and audio and it is available now from
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2003 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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Seven Years in Tibet (Superbit...