Himalaya

Watched the movie Himalaya tonight. According to the organizer, it's a joint product of China and France and is a candidate for Oscar. But these may not be accurate. (I googled and found them wrong. It's a Nepalese film made by French and scored a best-foreign-language film nomination or the Oscar in 2001.)

The story, set in a Tibetan tribe, is very simple for even me to follow. The small village, Dolpo, lies deep in the Himalayas mountains. There's no vegetation---actually a monk, Nuobi, says he has never seen a tree. Before the onset of winter, the villagers would have to trek a long way to trade their salt for grain. The trip in the snow mountains is an exhausting and dangerous one, and it needs a capable leader. Problem is, there's a conflict this year.

The tribe leader died accidentally on the last trip. Since his death, his father Tinle, the retired former leader, firmly (but unfoundedly) believed that his son was killed by the deputy leader, Karma, in an attempt to assume leadership. Although most people agreed that Karma was the best and only person to lead the trading team, Tinle insisted that he lead and his grandson, Passang, be trained in the practice to eventually succeed his deceased father. No compromise was reached, and as a result two teams embarked on the journey. The team led by Karma is big and young, whereas those who followed Tinle are few and weak, mostly elderly.

The elderly team set out four days after the young, strong team but caught up from behind because Tinle decided to take a short-cut "route of death." In pursuing this surprise catching-up, they avoided a casualty only out of luck. Later, Tinle collapsed in a snow storm without being noticed by his team. Fortunately he was save by Karma, whose team was slightly lagging behind after a two-day rest. In the end, Tinle openly blessed karma as the new leader, and then died on the trip.

The movie has two selling points. One is the grand landscape of the Himalayas. The other is the primitive living conditions and the ancient way of fighting the cruel nature for the very basic needs of survival.

Recommended for the visual stun.