The original drama documentary that inspired the Brad Pitt movie of the same name - this tells the tale of Austrian mountain climber Heinrich Harrer, who found himself interned in a prison camp at the outbreak of World War II. He escaped in 1944, crossed the Himalayas at great peril and deprivation, and entered the forbidden country of Tibet, where he made friends with the Dalai Lama.

Smuggled out of Tibet, Harrer's own films are included in this reconstructed account of his long trek through the mountains to safety and actually record the Dalai Lama's escape to India.