Himalaya, A Leader’s Childhood

- A Pilgrimage on the Snow Mountain Plateau

Himalaya, A Leader’s Childhood is a documentary film directed by Eric Valli and Michel Debats from France, and was cooperated to be filmed by France, Switzerland, England and Nepal.

It talks about a distant tibetan village Dolpo located on the highland of Himalaya, which lives on selling the salt and changing back the wheat. All of the trade depend on the caravan of the village, to connect the village with the outside world. This year, the trip of the caravan is about to start again when the original leader unexpectedly died in previous trip. The expected new young leader Karma is going to lead the caravan for next time’s transporting. However, because of the family feud, the old caravan leader Tinle(father of the dead leader) thinks that it is Karma who murdered his son so that he could be a new leader. And Tinle also insists that they are the leaders’ family and even if his son died, his grandson Tsering (an 8-year-old boy) will become the successor. That’s why he chooses not to cooperate with Karma and even persuades the other villagers to follow him(who hasn’t led the caravan for years) to retake the transportation of salt. That’s how two caravans are being formed: one led by young leader Karma, and another by old man Tinle, to go on a tough and unknown trip, to pass the steep cliff and the deep valley, and to face all those snowstorms and extreme weather.

Name of the film is A Leader’s Childhood, but the 8-year-old little successor is not the hero of the film. The little successor being more like a onlooker and learner, his grandfather Tinle(the old leader) is actually the character being focused on.

Tinle is the representative of the old and tradition religion of this village. He has a pure belief of the nature of the god. This kind of belief is firmly rooted in many villagers’ minds as well, which has been a part of their culture: they believe the dead leader will go on a tough road to paradise, they believe the shooting on target predicts good luck and good start, they should always depend on god(listen to the Lama - elder in the Tibetan Buddhism) to decide on a day for departure, choosing the right leader by tradition means the god’s will, etc. All of these believes that seem to be ridiculous nowadays are their way of thinking and doing, and their pillars to live on.

Tinle is also an old man that could even be viewed as stubborn. He ignores his old age and weakness to relead a caravan and persuades all the other old men to go on a caravan with him, as an opposite to the new leader. He tries to persuade his young son to go with him, who is a Lama in temple for a long time and has no experience at all in joining a caravan. Only for catching up with the young leader’s caravan, he chooses the most difficult road to pass - going through a cliffside as a short cut, risking the lives of all the people in the caravan and almost ten yaks. Doing all of these, he spares nothing to complete the trip of the caravan, and more deeply, to hold the dignity of his leaders’ family.

The old Tinle and the young Karma is actually in a contradiction: Karma doesn’t think Tinle and his people could have enough power to form a caravan, while Tinle and other old men don’t consider Karma taking place of the dead leader as the will of god. Karma doesn’t listen to Lama’s calculation of the departure day because he feels the storm is coming, but Tinle insists on the departure day to get started. We might think the side of Tinle too stubborn and too superstitious. But after viewing the whole film, we know that this kind of belief is an accumulation of tradition and a connection of their history. Ever since the ancient time, it’s those believes in god that makes them resilient and courageous to encounter all the difficulties in nature and to survive. And even though all those ceremonies and predictions seem ridiculous, they have the support of long-time experience.

Finally, these two caravans meet and after Karma happens to Tinle’s life, they become to get on well. And the old man finally realize the quality of the young to be a good leader. It’s from then on, the old tradition and the new power come to make a compromise, or in other words, begin to coexist.

Besides the conflicts of the old and new, the film itself is full of cultural strength. It has showcased a totally new and unknown tibetan culture for us. People’s copper-colored and dry skins, the vulture celestial burial, the blessing of the Lama, etc., all of these details have revealed the tibetan’s custom veritably and heart-touchingly. The background music of the film has offered great help as well. It includes the chanting, singing, Khoomei(an old way to sing in Tibet area), drums and even the bells, mixing with the western symphony to imitate the sacred tibetan life. Drowning in the music, you are connecting with a holy and mysterious world.

Watching Himalaya, it’s a trip to pilgrimage of vision, auditory sense and your whole heart.

---

Trailors：

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q8c6hzEyr0

Full film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVgBlPHZlCE

Pictures from: Douban