Our Flick of the Week is “Seven Years in Tibet,” which works for precisely the reason you might not expect and is less than satisfactory for what should have been relatively easy to achieve. To put it more directly, Brad Pitt’s character and performance aren’t well developed, but the film does powerfully communicate the pacifist principles of Buddhism.
In this adaptation of real events, Pitt plays an Austrian mountain climber, a Nazi sympathizer (in the film, but an SS member in real life), who journeys to Tibet to tackle a peak for the glory of the Fuhrer. After being captured and escaping from British forces, he meets and improbably becomes tutor of the adolescent Dalai Lama, the revered spiritual leader of Tibetan people, and, later in life and to this day, the point man in the campaign to expose and combat the Chinese brutality that decimated Tibet.
I consider this film to be a primer on these subjects and an effective one, and along that note I arranged for a 6th grade grammar school class to attend a preview despite the PG-13 rating. The point: There is some genuine teaching going on here, and the presence of a precocious 14-year-old religious leader (played magnificently by Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk) provides a beguiling point of accessing that information.
As for Pitt, his Austrian accent is too heavy in the film’s opening scenes. If in fact the movie was shot roughly in sequence, he does get more comfortable. Regardless, “Seven Years” would be a better film if we knew more about his character, but the title of the picture tells you the focus of director Jean-Jacques Annaud. It’s Tibet, and I’m glad I made the journey with him. PG-13. (star) (star) (star) 1/2
– WASHINGTON SQUARE. A mildly interesting — doesn’t that define faint praise — adaptation of the Henry James’ novel about a wealthy doctor (Albert Finney) in 1850 New York City who battles with his daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) over who will control her heart and his cash. A suitor (Ben Chaplin) with unclear motives is drawn to the daughter and clashes with the father. This type of story has been better told by the Merchant-Ivory partnership, but the performances of the three leads, as well as Maggie Smith as an aunt, are fresh even if their dialogue isn’t. PG. (star) (star) 1/2
– ROCKETMAN. An outer-space comedy that wears out its welcome after a promising start. A computer nerd and outer-space nut (played enthusiastically by Harland Williams) gets a chance to journey to Mars where he promptly trips with his first steps. You get the idea. Hey, it’s better than Mel Brooks’ “Space Balls,” but so is blank film stock. If they took 10 minutes out of the picture, I would like it twice as much. PG. (star) (star) 1/2 movie was shot roughly in sequence, he does get more comfortable. Regardless, “Seven Years” would be a better film if we knew more about his character, but the title of the picture tells you the focus of director Jean-Jacques Annaud. It’s Tibet, and I’m glad I made the journey with him. PG-13. (star) (star) (star) 1/2
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– WASHINGTON SQUARE. A mildly interesting — doesn’t that define faint praise — adaptation of the Henry James’ novel about a wealthy doctor (Albert Finney) in 1850 New York City who battles with his daughter (Jennifer Jason Leigh) over who will control her heart and his cash. A suitor (Ben Chaplin) with unclear motives is drawn to the daughter and clashes with the father. This type of story has been better told by the Merchant-Ivory partnership, but the performances of the three leads, as well as Maggie Smith as an aunt, are fresh even if their dialogue isn’t. PG. (star) (star) 1/2
– ROCKETMAN. An outer-space comedy that wears out its welcome after a promising start. A computer nerd and outer-space nut (played enthusiastically by Harland Williams) gets a chance to journey to Mars where he promptly trips with his first steps. You get the idea. Hey, it’s better than Mel Brooks’ “Space Balls,” but so is blank film stock. If they took 10 minutes out of the picture, I would like it twice as much. PG. (star) (star) 1/2
-=New this week