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Himalaya
Average Customer Rating: 
List Price:
$29.95
Asia Trips Trips Price:
$26.99
Your Savings: $ 2.96 ( 10% )
Subject To Change Without Notice
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Kino International
Starring: Thilen Lhondup, Gurgon Kyap, Lhakpa Tsamchoe, Karma Wangel, Karma Tensing
Directed By: Eric Valli
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0738329023522
Format: Anamorphic
Label: Kino International
Manufacturer: Kino International
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Kino International
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2002-03-05
Running Time: 104
Studio: Kino International
Theatrical Release Date: 1999
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Editorial Reviews:
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Set against some of the most spectacular scenery ever seen on film, Himalaya tells the story of a generational struggle for the leadership of a tiny mountain village between its proud old chief and a headstrong young caravaner. The balance of power shifts uneasily as they make their annual salt trek across the Himalayas. Director Eric Valli is a photographer and an author whose work is regularly published in National Geographic, Geo, The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, and Life. He has been living in Nepal since 1983 and his first journey through the Dolpo (northwest region of Nepal) dates back to this period. He wrote several books about this country before shooting HIMALAYA in 1997. In 1992, he was awarded the Gurka Dakshin Baho award from His Majesty the King of Nepal for his body of work on the country.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Real People, Rugged Place
Comment: 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. What's really different, however is the fact the film employed no professional actors. These were real people of that area! They are fascinating faces you won't soon forget.
As for the story, the treks don't begin until 45 minutes hav gone by in the film. You have to be patient. I's an adventure story that will reward you if you can hang with it that three-quarters of an hour. It also will make you grateful you weren't born in this part of the country.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautiful look at a fascinating culture
Comment: As filmcraft, this film could use tighter editing and more skillful camera work (not to mention a bigger budget) to make it a more viscerally involving experience. I did find the plot a tad simplistic and the subtext (=both the old and the new have their own place in harmony with each other, and are not separate from each other) rather pat and clumsily expressed. It helped that as a practicing Buddhist I already had a keen interest in this place and people, for someone wholly unfamiliar with this subject area this film might be on the slow side, with more of a documentary feel.
However, it is a very rare treat for Western audiences to gain exposure to the stunning natural beauty of Tibet and the fascinating culture of its people (also very beautiful) on film---especially a film entirely devoid of cheesy Western characters and storylines. That alone makes it worth watching.
4 1/2 stars!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stunning epic, but 30 bucks?
Comment: I have been an avid hiker and armchair mountaineer for a decade, and have read many accounts of Tibet and Nepal, so was jazzed to see some of the austere beauty. The story is wonderful, the scenery SPECTACULAR!, the acting very good. But with S&H, this costs $30--way too much. If it was Cliffhanger, Caddyshack, Butch Cassidy, etc. (the kind of movie you watch 4 or 5 times a year), I could understand the price. I will watch this movie perhaps another 3 times in my life, probably to introduce someone else to it. Great movie, but rent it if you can.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A story about life
Comment: This is a beautiful movie about life: about growing old and learning to let go; the conflict between the new and traditional beliefs; and the tension between the young and the old. It also demonstrates that true communication between people does not need many words. This human drama is set in a backdrop of the magnificent Himalayan mountains. The attention to detail in this film is amazing. I have watched it six times and discover something new every time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Himalaya" is a real treat
Comment: For those of us who are hikers, "Himalaya" is a real treat. Beautifully filmed--as they were climbing with their yaks, I only wished that I had been there. The mountains of the Himalaya are a dream for most who hike--a sense of what God must have chosen above all else to be His best.
The Himalaya mountain system is the planet's highest and home to all fourteen of the world's highest peaks, including Mount Everest.
At times, the Himalaya's grandeur and majesty--and brutality too--reminds one of the Antarctica shown in the "March of the Penguins," which of course has become a classic. When one hikes, vistas are seen like those in this film, which reinforce the fact that God exists and each of us is blessed.
Without giving away too much of the story, at one point the trail falls away and it is literally straight down. Anyone who has hiked the somewhat-wider trails of the Grand Canyon, for example, knows that feeling well. An experienced hiking partner of mine got vertigo; and I certainly did not get any closer to the edge than I had to--nor look down in some spots.
It is partly a love story, and a story of the generations, and the mountains of which they are a part. It is small wonder that it was nominated for an Academy Award as "Best Foreign Film."
The scenery is spectacular--and it rates "four stars" for that alone; the acting is terrific, certainly given the fact that most are first-time actors; the photography is excellent, which captures life at the "top of the world"; portable altitude chambers were used to keep members of the film crew healthy at more than 19,000 feet; and the temperatures were freezing.
Yet, it is a beautiful film and a tribute to those who made it; and more importantly, to those who live in the Himalaya full time, about whom their story is told. Last but not least, there is a fine "Special Feature" by Debra Kellner, about how the film was made and the difficulties that were encountered, which ought to make any wannabe filmmaker take heed.
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