The film, set in a remote Himalayan village in Nepal, is gorgeous start-to-finish, a labor of love by those who made it over a long period of time. The cinematography gets a lot of good "press," and rightfully so, but what I really enjoyed was the soundtrack. I expected the good visuals, and got them, but I didn't expect such wonderful music.
As for the look, it's different, with rugged barren mountain village terrain and snow-topped Himalayas in background, although we don't enjoy those until almost 50 minutes into the film.
What's really different, however is the fact the film employed no professional actors. These were real people of that area! They also faces you won't soon forget.
As for the story, the treks don't begin until 45 minutes has gone by in the film. You have to be patient. Much of that first part, people argue back and forth on the merits of making the trip and who would and should be going. Finally, we wind up with two separate camps: the younger guy "Karma" and his crowd and the older man, "Tinle," who takes his son, grandchild and his mother,and mainly older friends of the stubborn old coot of a leader.
Old man Tinle does nothing but bitch and moan most of the movie but people do their share of complaining to him, too. Yet, I found nobody unlikable for some strange reason. Most of the time, nobody in this village appears happy. These people must love to argue!
As one man say, speaking of Tinle: "Trying to talk to him is like trying to stop the snow from falling."
I liked the following: when asked why he changed his mind about going on the trip with Tinle, his son and lama-artist "Norbou,"" told his father, "After you left the monastery, I remembered what one of my masters said: "when two paths open up before you, always take the hard one."
I also thought the yaks were fascinating. . I'd like to know more about them after watching this movie.
Overall, it's a dramatic and touching adventure story. that will reward you if you can hang with it for first three-quarters of an hour. It also will make you grateful you weren't born in this part of the country.
