The Seven Years in Tibet: Screenplay and Story Behind the Film

by Jean-Jacques Annaud, Becky Johnston, David Appleby (Photographer)

This beautiful, keepsake screenplay book features more than 115 photos, 50 in full color--location stills, Annaud's own pictures of Tibet and Bhutan taken during pre-production, dozens of Heinrich Harrer's historical photos; an extensive account of the making of the film; and a touching essay by the Dalai Lama's sister, Jetsun Pema, who plays her own mother in the film. 100 photos, drawings, bibliography.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published in connection with the release of the 1997 film, and as such lacks the juicy behind-the-scenes struggles and gossip that usually make such books - such as those on the making of the John Wick films, "Dune," "Fury Road" and "Purple Rain," among others - so much fun. Still, for any fan of the film and Harrer's story in general, this was an interesting read.

What we get is basically a very positive, New Yorker-length article on the background and making of the film, followed by the full script (so that now I want to rewatch the movie and see just how much was changed from script to screen), and interspersed with a nice collection of photos both from Annaud's location scouting trips in India/Tibet and on-location from the actual filming in Argentina.

Anyone reading this book - and there ain't a lot of ya - is already familiar with the film and likely also Harrer's original book on which it is (rather loosely) based, so no need to recap. But just need to remember this is Hollywood, and a movie, so there's a lot of creative license behind the phrase "based on a true story." The whole romantic triangle between Harrer, Aufschnaiter and the fictional Pema Lhaki is pure invention (Aufschnaiter never married*); as apparently is his son's "happy childhood" with a new father (from what I've found, Peter - not "Rolf" - Harrer was actually raised by a grandmother and spent most of his childhood in boarding schools). Also (and closely related), Harrer's departure from Tibet was not a solo affair where he just decided it was time to go home and try to be "a good dad;" he actually left Tibet with a large party of government officials - which later included the Dalai Lama himself - temporarily leaving Lhasa until the situation with the Chinese was better understood.

But again, Hollywood, movie, drama, romance, redemption, blah, blah…

Bottom line - both the movie and this book were (IMHO) quite good…they just both could have been better. The real - and heart-breaking - takeaway here is that this film came out over a quarter century ago, and the only thing that has really changed in Tibet is that the situation has gotten 25 years worse.
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* The film and this current book never discuss what happened to Aufschnaiter, but in Harrer's original book as well as his 1983 Return to Tibet, he explains that his friend remained in Tibet for another ten months, and then moved to Nepal where he remained for a number of years - even obtaining Nepalese citizenship - before ultimately returning to Austria. Aufschnaiter passed away in 1973, and it was only two decades later that his notes were organized and published as the book Peter Aufschnaiter's Eight Years In Tibet. Sounds fascinating, but is currently out of print and so going for $100+ anywhere I've seen it…and it just doesn't sound that fascinating.

[Karschtl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dieses Filmbuch enthält zum einen Hintergrund zur Historie und zu den Dreharbeiten sowie das Drehbuch zum gleichnamigen Film mit Brad Pitt.

Ich habe nur den ersten Teil gelesen, das Drehbuch brauch ich nicht unbedingt, da schau ich mir lieber irgendwann mal den Film komplett an (hab ich bisher auch noch nicht getan). Die Bilder hab ich mir auch ein bißchen durchgeschaut. Für Fans des Films sicher ein nettes Büchlein.