Tiziano Terzani, renowned author and Southeast Asia correspondent for many years, tells his life story before he dies.

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Struck down by cancer in his remote Tuscan home, Tiziano Terzani tells his life story to his son. As a way of saying goodbye, he tells him of his childhood in Florence, the many long years in Asia, his bitter experience during the Vietnam War, a meeting with a wise man in the Himalayas, and he passes on the spiritual and sociopolitical thoughts he has gathered throughout his life.

Long, uncut monologs are a rare thing in today's fast-paced movies, so it's easy to enjoy an excellent actor like Bruno Ganz in his element. Unfortunately, the level of dialog seldom rise above platitudes and is a mix of religion and esotericism, consumer criticism and political history, which too often gets stuck in generics and naïve banalities.