Contrary to popular belief, Harrer did not compete on the Austrian skiing team in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, an apocryphal factoid perpetrated by a number of unreliable sources.

Heinrich Harrer was born on in Austria on July 6, 1912.

His effervescent portrayal of Tenzin Gyatso in his insatiable thirst for knowledge of the outside world, and his affectionate candor toward Heinrich Harrer make him one of the most endearing characters in cinematic history. Wong as Ngawang Jigme, Mako as Kungo Tsarong, Ingeborga Dapkunaite as his wife Ingrid Harrer, Lhakpa Tsamchoe as the lovely and exotic seamstress Pema Lhaki and Jetsun Pema, the real life sister of the Dalai Lama who plays their mother in the film.īut the real star of the show is Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk, an impish young man who plays the Dalai Lama at 14 years old. Performances by an excellent supporting cast create convincing portraits of three-dimensional characters, including David Thewlis as Harrer's rival and sometimes traveling companion Peter Aufschnaiter, B.D. Most of its omissions are in the minutia: Harrer's internal observations of his experiences and the endless details of each outpost along his arduous trek through the Himalayas. And despite any misgivings one might have about such a film starring a Hollywood superstar like Brad Pitt, his performance is remarkably unaffected and understated, and the story holds true to Heinrich Harrer's book, inasmuch as any film of its kind is able to do so. With the splendor of the Himalayas as the cinematic landscape and the sacred legacy of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama as the premise, Seven Years in Tibet is naturally a film of epic proportions. And once he left Tibet, Harrer went on to climb many lofty peaks in countries all over the globe, and later starred as himself in the 1956 version of Seven Years in Tibet, directed by Hans Nieter. The two become lifelong friends, and when Heinrich Harrer finally returned to Europe after war ended, he wrote a riveting account of his adventures, also titled Seven Years in Tibet. The boy takes an instant liking to Harrer, who serves for seven years as his teacher, cultural mentor and confidant. After numerous attempts, he escapes with several other men and flees to Tibet, where he enters the forbidden city of Lhasa, and eventually meets the young Dalai Lama. Based on a true story, the 1997 Jean-Jacques Annaud film stars Brad Pitt as Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who, during an attempt to scale the Himalayan peak Nanga Parabat, is interned in a World War II POW camp by the British in Colonial India.

Seven years in tibet harrer