"Himalaya" is about as exotic as films get. Using indigenous people in a remote and harsh corner of Nepal (Dolpa), an adventurous French director (Valli) created a film about a superstitious and aging tribal chief who leads a caravan of Yaks through hazardous Himalayan reaches to trade salt for the grain required to sustain his people. The film is interesting inasmuch as it uses native nonactors in an extremely remote region of great beauty which is seldom seen up close and personal. The result, however, is not great drama and the scenics, though beautiful, are less breathtaking than I had expected. In fact, I found the "The Making Of..." featurette on board the DVD more interesting than the film itself. Considering the low entertainment yield of this ambitious project, it would probably have worked better as a documentary or travelogue. Nonetheless, this exotic-for-the-sake-of-exotica film should be much appreciated by those into films about foreign cultures or with a special interest in the Nepali. (B)
