Michal Sulima follows piano tuner Desmond O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s expedition to transport a piano to a village school high in the Himalayas<\/p>\n
The lesson to be learned from Michal Sulima\u2019s documentary is that if you\u2019re planning to transport a piano to a village school in the Himalayas by yak, it\u2019s advisable to first meet a yak \u2013 or at least Google one beforehand. Not having done due diligence, when 65-year-old piano tuner Desmond O\u2019Keeffe turns up in India he discovers that yaks are a bit too titchy to carry his 100-year-old Broadwood & Sons up and down mountains.<\/p>\n
There is a lot of charm to this film about O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s quixotic (bonkers would be another way of putting it) expedition to deliver a piano to a village in Zanskar, northern India \u2013 making it the highest in the world. He\u2019s an endearing eccentric who says he can\u2019t face retirement on a deckchair \u201ceating lemon drizzle cake\u201d. He got the idea for the trip from a customer at his Camden Market workshop, who\u2019d planned to take a piano with her to teach at the school, but got pregnant and couldn\u2019t travel. Somehow, the idea glued itself to O\u2019Keeffe\u2019s imagination. The village is a two-day trek from the road \u2013 and in the end the piano is carried by porters.<\/p>\n