
DATE: Tuesday, October 14, 1997             TAG: 9710150795

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Movie Review 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC 

                                            LENGTH:   89 lines

GORGEOUS SCENERY AND MUSIC OVERSHADOW THE SKIMPY PLOT OF "SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET"

``SEVEN YEARS in Tibet'' is an absolutely beautiful film to watch and hear - blessed with gorgeously photographed scenery (Argentina and British Columbia, not Tibet) and a soaring musical score (by multi-Oscar winner John Williams). With Brad Pitt cleaned up and looking like a bona fide movie star, complete with all that yellow hair, it is a reminder of how big, lush and ultra-adventurous movies once were.

There was a time when the huge screen regularly transported us to faraway places and lush escapism. It happens less frequently nowadays. Hollywood seems to be more interested in lowlife.

Jean-Jaques Annaud, the French director who is interested in things visual (such as ``The Bear''), has delivered a feast for the eyes that should be a top candidate for this year's Oscar for cinematography.

With this said, should we also ask for a dramatic center? Should we also ask for the film to have a heart? When the subject is the brutal Chinese occupation of helpless little Tibet in 1950, we surely should.

``Seven Years in Tibet,'' with a $70 million budget, has the enviable look of a David Lean film, but it lacks both the intellect and the soul that Lean would have invested. It's mostly a boy's life adventure film that is simplicity to the extreme.

Pitt has suggested before that he hopes to be more than just a movie star. In his best performance, in ``Twelve Monkeys,'' he played a lunatic involved in animals rights. In ``True Romance,'' he played a vacant pothead. In ``Kalifornia,'' he played a serial killer. All these were well handled. But it was his baby-hunk bit in ``Thelma and Louise'' that made him a star, and his biggest commercial hit was a long-haired posing role in ``Legends of the Fall.''

``Seven Years in Tibet'' is probably more of what his fans want than those earlier, scruffy, parts. This, in fact, is the first film in which he is asked to be the sole commercial draw.

``Tibet,'' though, is an uphill battle in more ways than one. At more than two hours, it should be cut by at least 30 minutes. The transformation that holy, peaceful Tibet brings to Pitt's character is almost wholly missing. In other words, dramatically, it's a dud.

Based on Heinrich Harrer's memoir, a dubious source in the first place, the script by Becky Johnson tells us more than it shows us. Harrer was a famous Austrian mountain climber who, from all accounts (even his own), was a selfish, glory-seeking bounder. Early in the film version, he deserts his pregnant wife to climb Nanga Parbat in 1939. He ends up in the mysterious walled city of Lhasa as the tutor for the young Dalai Lama. This is handled with such deft simplicity that it resembles ``The King and I'' and, indeed, someone may someday add songs and make it into a Broadway musical.

Pitt attempts a German accent, which is not as good as his Irish accent in ``The Devil's Own,'' but at least it is consistent. You can easily see, though, why he has tried to add scrounge and dirt to his earlier roles. Cleaned up, he has a little-boy look that resembles a California surfer more than an Austrian mountain climber.

David Thewlis, the British actor whom Hollywood doesn't seem to know how to use, takes the acting honors as the ``best friend,'' the real-life climber Peter Aufschnaiter. He, unlike Harrer, befriends the people in a meaningful way and wins a local beauty, choosing to stay in Tibet.

Harrer's early membership in the Nazi party seems but another aspect of the transformation he needs, and supposedly achieves. It's just that Harrer, as pictured, spends too much of the film sulking and preening and too little being transformed.

Pitt is asked to play an anti-hero - a part that is much like the series of early roles given to Paul Newman. His suggestion of selfishness, though, is more of a constant pout. This leaves the later transformation more difficult to play. It is more the script's fault than his.

The cast includes B.D. Wong, who was such a sensation on Broadway in the title role of ``M. Butterfly,'' and Mako, who is still fondly remembered for his Oscar-nominated performance in ``The Sand Pebbles.'' The Dalai Lama's sister is cast as his mother.

In short, ``Seven Years in Tibet'' is a gorgeous example of what epic-style moviemaking was once like. Probably only critics, or Tibetans, will quibble about the real lack of involvement. It's quite a treat for the eyes, even if it offers little for the brain. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Brad Pitt...

MOVIE REVIEW

``Seven Years in Tibet''

Cast: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, B.D. Wong, Mako

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud

Screenplay: Becky Johnson (based on Heinrich Harrer's memoir)

MPAA rating: PG-13 (a bit violent)

Mal's rating: three stars