Seven Years in Tibet

This moving story is full of breathtaking compositions, gorgeous spectacle, and inspiring philosophies articulated by sympathetic figures.

Beyond his struggles with an unwieldy accent and the screenplay's hokum, Mr. Pitt gives a sincere if labored performance enhanced by a sense of genuine struggle.

Annaud's desire to create an epic tale actually harms the production, since it results in unnecessary scenes that pad the running length to more than two hours.

The bad news is that Pitt, despite this film's high-minded intentions (there are Yo-Yo Ma cello solos on the soundtrack, and China expert Orville Schell acted as an advisor during the shoot), or more likely because of them, finds himself trapped in a long, earnest movie that fails to ever feel very alive.

Unfortunately, this visually sumptuous epic is the very definition of a "prestige production," swaddled in good taste and better intentions.

Becky Johnston ( "The Prince of Tides" ) did creditable work on the screenplay, but there are times when this story about a truly rotten fellow seems to be one big jump cut.

Seven Years in Tibet feels more like Seven Days in the Movie Theater. It refuses to come alive--not even when Brad Pitt, hirsute as a yak, wanders the frozen Himalayas with an Austrian accent that probably gave his dialogue coach hives.

This was a beautiful movie, worth watching for the photography alone. It captured an essence of traveling the world and being transformed by it. The Brad Pitt character made a subtle transformation from being a hard charge **** type to a mellow patient guy, with the fall of Tibet as a backdrop. I felt enriched by this movie. I was not aware 1 million Tibetans were killed in the religious cleansing by China, that is a bummer.

Lovely cinematography and costumes for this period piece. But clunky dialog and a terrible Austrian accent by Brad Pitt decreases enthusiasm.

The movie is too long in my view. Some of the characters are written also too simple. The pictures are beautiful though with many details.

Une belle histoire que cet impétueux et orgueilleux alpiniste autrichien qui finit par trouver en une période troublée une certaine forme de sagesse auprès du Dalaï-Lama avant de retourner chez lui après tant d'années. C'est aussi l'occasion de revenir sur l'invasion du Tibet par la vermine communiste, l'une des nombreuses hontes du 20ème siècle. L'occasion également de se laisser aller dans une guimauve excessive de la part de Jean-Jacques Annaud avec en prime -on s'en serait passé- quelques longueurs dans le récit. Brad Pitt n'est clairement pas à la hauteur et mine sensiblement le film qui n'en demandait pas tant. Malgré ces aléas, le réalisateur français dispense une mise en scène pleine de dignité, de grandeur et d'éloquence... et les acteurs (à part Brad Pitt) sont excellents.

I honestly tried to like this film, but now I know why I avoided seeing it for so long. It's the very worst of a Hollywood portrayal of the subject. So laughably ridiculous from beginning to end that there's no need to get into all of the details. I had to force myself to endure the whole thing but I finished it. But then I had to deal with my anger and resentment for being distracted by something like this for two hours.