While searching for various related events to study over the course of this class, I chose to watch the movie 7 Years in Tibet. I did not choose this simply because of it being a movie, but because of its powerful impact that it can have on someone who was not aware of the hatred that the Chinese had toward the Tibetan people. .
As I was watching this movie last week, I was thinking that this movie would be more of a bore than something that I would enjoy watching, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Now due to the fact that I enjoy being in the outdoors, when the movie started out with mountain climbing it caught my eye. Before watching it, I was not aware that foreigners were not allowed in to Lhasa, the cultural center of Tibet. When allowed in, the were allowed to stay in Lhasa by a local family. But after the man that allowed the foreigners to stay with him, told the government that he had a foreigner in Lhasa, he was told to talk to the Dalai Lama. From what I could gather while watching the movie, the Austrian was rather nervous about meeting the Dalai Lama, and had no clue that the Dalai Lama would be like what he was then they met. .
From the movie, I learned that even the Dalai Lama wanted to expand his mind by questioning the ways of the Austrian, and the ways of the western world. Such queries of the Dalai Lama led to the Austrian building him a movie house. I was also shocked at how the Dalai Lama warmed up so fast to the Austrian. The Austrian went from being intimidated by the Lama, to acting almost like a older brother or father. Over the course of the 7 years that the Austrian spent in Tibet, the two became very close friends. Some of the teachings that the Dalai Lama taught in the movie, that had much meaning, were things such as how there is no reason for violent fighting within humans. I though this was significant because toward the end, the Chinese took over Tibet and killed thousands of monks, and what was even more impressive was how he stayed in Lhasa with his people.