Eric ValliÆs film Himalaya chronicles the annual winter journey of a village chieftain and his followers to bring salt to its people and send goods out for trade. The conflict in the film helps demonstrate the ancient tribes and ancient social structure of the villagers of the Dolpo area of Nepal. The film is of significant interest to anthropologists because it portrays a society and lifestyle of a culture whose lives are astonishing in comparison to most other 21st century cultures. Tinle is the aged chief of his village. He conducts the annual journey of yak caravans for salt. However, now older, he leaves the role of leader of the journey to his son. The chiefÆs son is brought back dead to the village by Karma, who now proclaims his desire to be the chief of the caravans for salt.
Tinle is unsure whether or not he wants Karma in such a role. He would prefer to keep the honor and prestige of the caravan leader position in the family. He appeals to his eldest son, Norbou, to leave his Buddhist monastery and take over the role. However, Norbou turns him down. Frustrated, Tinle announces he will come out of retirement and lead the caravan himself. Karma says that he will lead his own caravan on the salty journey. Along the way, we see both individuals represent different values and belief systems of this ancient culture. Tinle believes in superstition and the gods. When he throws salt into a fire and it does not crackle the way he expects it to, he argues that this means the gods want him and his men to depart right away. Karma says he and his men will wait a while to allow time for the blizzards to pass. When Tinle encounters a blizzard, he takes ill and catches pneumonia. He is isolated from the others and is found by Karma, who takes Tinle to safety. Tinle knows he is dying and we see an important right of passage for this culture, both in terms of the passing of a respected leader and in terms of the t
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