Seven Years in Tibet is a 1997 film based on the book of the same name written by Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer based on his experiences in Tibet between 1944 and 1951 during the Second World War, the interim period, and the Chinese People's Liberation Army invasion in 1950. The film was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud and starred Brad Pitt and David Thewlis. The score was composed by John Williams and features cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Seven Years in Tibet tells the story of how Austrians Heinrich Harrer and Peter Aufschnaiter, having been imprisoned by the British while mountaineering in the north of India at the beginning of World War II in 1939, eventually escape across the border into Tibet in 1944 and cross the treacherous high plateau. There in Tibet, after initially being ordered to return to India, they are welcomed at Lhasa and become acquainted with an unfamiliar way of life. Harrer is introduced to the Dalai Lama, who is still a boy, and he becomes a tutor and then close friend to the young spiritual leader during his time in Lhasa. Harrer and Aufschnaiter remain in the country until the Communist Chinese invasion in 1950.

In 1939, at the outbreak of WWII, Austrian mountain-climber Harrer is captured and interred in an Indian P.O.W. camp. Harrer escapes from the prison with several other men and, at great peril, crosses the jungles of India and the mountains of the Himalayas. Against the wishes of Tibet's religious leader, the Dalai Lama, Harrer and his companions enter the forbidden country of Tibet, and, eventually, the Holy City of Lhasa, where they are again held as prisoners. Written by Anonymous

Heinrich Harrer runs from trouble at home in WWII Austria to climb Mt. Nanga Parbat. After meeting unforseen obstacles, he comes into contact with the forbidden city of Lhasa. Written by Scott Hussey

Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas to climb mountains, leaving his wife behind in Austria. War breaks out while he's gone and he is placed in a prisoner-of-war camp. Harrer escapes to Tibet where he befriends the childhood Dalai Lama and witnesses the Tibetan/Chinese confrontation escalate. Written by John Hawkinson

Heinrich Harrer is an Austrian mountaineer who is forced to be a hero for the Nazi propaganda. He leaves Austria in 1939 to climb a mountain in the Himalayas. Through a series of circumstances (including POW camp), he and fellow climber Peter Aufschnaiter become the only two foreigners in the Tibetan Holy City of Lhasa. There, Heinrich's life changes forever as he becomes a close confidant to the Dalai Lama. Written by Afterbuner