True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

Michael Palin: Himalaya
I love personal, quirky, off-beat travel, and Michael Palin, one of the original
Monty Pythons, has his own eccentric travel down to an cinematic
art. His BBC credentials give him access to odd little corners of the
former British Empire, and so he takes us to many remote places across
the breadth of the Himalayas – one the most exotic and peculiar regions
in the world. I spent many years traveling in the Himalayas myself, yet
Palin would turn up in places I had not even heard of. And of the places
I did know, he got the spirit of the place just right. It doesn’t hurt that
spanning the Himalayas are several of the most interesting countries of
the moment, including the essential and complex giants India and China,
but also tiny Bhutan and Nepal, as well as hyper Pakistan and forgotten
Bangladesh. Palin is very funny, extremely witty, and warmly intelligent
about what he sees. He is the ideal travel companion, and in these 6
hours, he’ll introduce you to the incredible diversity of culture hidden in
the folds of this greatest range of mountains. I’d follow him anywhere.
By Roger Mills and
John-Paul Davidson
2005, 352 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Palin narrates in front
of the palace in Lhasa,
or in a tiny guesthouse
with a view of Mt.
Everest from the north
side (below). In Nepal
a saddhu places his
foot behind his head
(bottom).
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