The one movie that got Brad Pitt banned from China for nearly 20 years
Brad Pitt has enjoyed a career comprised predominantly of soaring highs, a level of success that has made him one of the most prominent actors in Hollywood.
In a world of so many flights and fancies as Tinseltown, it is truly remarkable that his stock has rarely fallen after 30 years in the sun, as the next phase of his career enters a more reflective and considered approach.
Aside from being a dextrous actor who has featured in projects ranging from big-budget action flicks to arthouse titles, Pitt’s personal life – and his high-profile marriage to Angelina Jolie – has often caused more headlines than his work itself. Their partnership saw them become the definitive power couple and embark on a spree of philanthropy that only further enhanced their stock. However, Brangelina is no more, with Pitt now concentrating on acting and, most recently, making a segue into visual art.
Reflecting just how celebrated his collection of credits remains, you only need to mention that he has starred in Se7en, 12 Monkeys, Inglorious Basterds, Fight Club, The Tree of Life and Babel. Elsewhere, Pitt has also moonlighted as a producer, helping to bring the likes of The Departed, 12 Years a Slave, Moonlight and Selma to life.
Although Pitt is treasured worldwide, that’s not to say that his ride to success has been straightforward, with one of his films proving so divisive that it resulted in the actor being banned by China for nearly 20 years. The movie in question was the historical drama Seven Years in Tibet by Jean-Jacques Annaud, wherein Pitt stars alongside David Thewlis.
The movie is based on the Austrian SS sergeant and mountaineer Heinrich Harrer’s 1952 memoir of the same name, a story which details his experiences in the country between 1944 and 1951. The plot follows Harrer and his friend, Peter Aufschnaiter, a pair of mountaineers who are interred in India after the Second World War breaks out in 1939, focusing on their escape from prison across the mountains into the neighbouring Tibet.
After a while, the two men are welcomed into the holy city of Lhasa and assimilate into the local way of life. It has a significant impact, with Harrer becoming one of the tutors of the 14th Dalai Lama, who is still only a child at this point. However, the dream ends after China invades the country, with Harrer and Aufschnaiter left with no choice but to return to Austria.
Although the movie was generally well-received, the Chinese government condemned it, claiming that their military officers were intentionally depicted as arrogant and brutal. They also heavily criticised the movie’s positive portrayal of the Dalai Lama. The government was so enraged that they felt obliged to officially ban Pitt, Thewlis and Annaud from entering the country. The director was eventually granted access in 2012 in order to chair the jury of the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival. However, Pitt had to wait a while longer.
Speaking to Steven Klein in Interview magazine, Pitt opened up about if the movie changed his life: “I’d say yes. Sure. All movies are. For an audience it’s two hours, but for me it’s a half year of living. And this one particularly.”
For an American man, the cultural shift was an imposing one: “Being in a different culture for so long, you couldn’t help but walk out of there with something… I didn’t know anything about Tibet, really, and the first images in my head were of Shangri-la, and that’s not it at all. You just get these notions of an oasis in the middle of this violent world, but it’s the people who make it a Shangri-la, not the land.”
The ban was lifted in 2016 when Pitt’s film Allied was released because a Chinese company, Huahua Media, partially financed it.
