I don't know which film the earlier reviewer watched but it can't have been the film I saw. I watched the film with a German speaker who concurred that Brad's Austrian accent was surprisingly fine (if a little uneven at times). If you are watching this for high octane action forget it but if you want to see some beautiful filming and amazing acting (especially from the young Dalai Lama) then this is well worth the price and the effort required to watch it. It is a long film and does expect the viewer to have an attention span beyond that usually required from the cartoon generation but is rewarding for those who stay the course. John Williams score is polished and there are some interesting cameo performances (including the Dalai Lama's sister playing her own mother).

The only area of the film I find less than satisfactory is the early portrayal of Heinrich Harrer. He may well have been a bit egocentric and selfish to the point of obnoxious in his early days but the point is a… more »

I don't know which film the earlier reviewer watched but it can't have been the film I saw. I watched the film with a German speaker who concurred that Brad's Austrian accent was surprisingly fine (if a little uneven at times). If you are watching this for high octane action forget it but if you want to see some beautiful filming and amazing acting (especially from the young Dalai Lama) then this is well worth the price and the effort required to watch it. It is a long film and does expect the viewer to have an attention span beyond that usually required from the cartoon generation but is rewarding for those who stay the course. John Williams score is polished and there are some interesting cameo performances (including the Dalai Lama's sister playing her own mother).

The only area of the film I find less than satisfactory is the early portrayal of Heinrich Harrer. He may well have been a bit egocentric and selfish to the point of obnoxious in his early days but the point is a bit laboured in the film with HH constantly being so rude and unpleasant to his climbing companions that it is surprising that anyone was prepared to spend a day with him - let alone a 4 month expedition.

The climbing scenes were unusually well done for Hollwood. As an ex-climber they seemed technically pretty accurate and authentic. It does help that the two leads obviously enjoyed the pre-filming training where they did actually learn to climb properly.

All in all a very good film and whilst its historical accuracy of Tibet has been questioned it does provide a good introduction to the culture that was all but swept away by Mao's Chinese hoards.