If
you saw The Saltmen of Tibet, a 1997 German
documentary, you will not be surprised by the rugged life
of Tibetans portrayed in Himalaya, a French
film subtitled L’enfance d’un chef (The Infancy of a Chief);
the film is known as Caravan in Canada. The
director is Eric Valli, who lived in the region for several
years, assisted in the filming of Seven Years in Tibet
(1998), and now provides a drama that bring the documentary
to life while serving as an ethnographic portrait of Tibetan
customs. Himalaya is set in the Dolpo region of Nepal among
a Tibetan people (many of the unprofessional actors are Tibetan
refugees) who survive in the snow-bound mountains on grain,
but the grain produced during the short growing season is
insufficient, so they must go miles on foot along with their
yaks to trade local salt in order to store up a supply of
grain and other necessities. When the film begins, the latest
caravan arrives in the community without the leader, who died
trying to take a shortcut. Who will lead the final caravan
before the community becomes snowbound for the winter? Karma
(played by Gurgon Kyap), who led the caravan back, insists
that he alone has the ability to lead the next, but Tinle
(played by Thinlen Lhondup), the aging father of the former
caravan leader, does not want the leadership role to pass
to Karma. His third son Tsering (played by Karma Wangiel),
who is being groomed for the role, is much too young. His
second son Norbou (played by Karma Tenzing Nyima Lama) is
a lama, who has remained in the Buddhist temple to learn the
sacred arts, so he has no experience. Tinle startles everyone
by deciding that he will come out of retirement after a ten-year
absence to lead the caravan, but the younger men stick with
Karma, so Tinle mobilizes the older members of the community
to come out of retirement as well, and he pressures Norbou
and Tsering (whom he has the lamas christen with the new name
of Pasang in preparation for his eventual role as village
chief) to join him. When will the month-long caravan start?
The lamas make astrological calculations and come up with
a date two weeks hence. Karma insists that the timing is unrealistic,
given the inevitability of blizzards, so he leads his group
onward about one week earlier. Tinle insists on taking his
group on the astrologically appointed date, but to catch up
with the first group he takes a shortcut. Much of the film
demonstrates how the caravan taxes human endurance, reminiscent
of the French film Wages of Fear (1953), which
William Friedkin remade into Sorcerer (1977).
Tinle’s persistence prevails many times when members of his
group plead that they cannot go on and want to go back. Nevertheless,
Tinle surprises everyone by catching up with Karma’s group,
which is resting for a couple of days to make the last leg
of the trek. However, Karma and Tinle again are at odds, underscoring
a conflict between traditionalist Tinle and empiricist Karma.
Tinle throws salt crystals into a fire; when they do not crackle,
according to tradition, he insists that the gods want the
trek to proceed without delay. Karma insists on another day
of rest, but Tinle moves forward. However, Tinle’s group encounters
a blizzard, Tinle contracts pneumonia, and he falls on the
snow so far behind the group that he is alone for hours. Soon,
Karma’s group advances, finds Tinle, and Karma carries Tinle
through the blizzard. When the snow stops and the two groups
set up camp, Tinle knows that he is dying. He then declares
that Karma is the new leader and expires soon after. At one
point during the caravan Tinle asks Norbou why, after initially
refusing, he decided to join the caravan after all. Norbou
responds with wisdom that serves to explain much about Tibetan
culture: "When faced with two paths, always choose the hardest."
MH
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