Himalaya - l'enfance d'un chef (1999) *

Directed by Eric Valli. With Thilen Lhondop, Gurgon Kyap, Lhaka Tsamchoe. Unlike Khyentse Norbu’s The Cup, this film set in the Himalayas was directed by a European, and it shows. It’s a perfect example of a regrettable trend in international filmmaking, where the characters behave the way most Westerners imagine that exotic foreigners (in this case, Tibetan herdsmen) ought to be behaving. The vistas are suberb (no surprise here), the tents seem authentic enough, but everything else appears superficial and forced.