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''Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'' (; bo, ཨ་ཆེན་གངས་རྒྱལ།) is a 2004 Chinese film directed by
Lu Chuan Lu Chuan (born 8 February 1971) is a Chinese filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He is the son of novelist Lu Tianming (). Education Educated at the in Nanjing, Lu spent two years serving in the Army as a secretary to a general. After his time ...
that depicts the struggle between
vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...
rangers and bands of
poacher Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...
s in the remote
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
an region of
Kekexili Hoh Xil or Kekexili, ( Mongolian for "Blue Ridge", also Aqênganggyai for "Lord of Ten Thousand Mountains"), is an isolated region in the northeastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. On July 7, 2017, the Hoh Xil in Qinghai was listed among the ...
(Hoh Xil). It was inspired by the documentary ''Balance'' by Peng Hui. Despite its realistic, detached style, the film evokes the dramatic
Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...
genre in several ways. This includes the portrayal of a masculine, harsh way of life and culture of
honour Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...
at the frontier of civilization; but also the depiction of a rugged, majestic landscape (captured to great effect by cinematographer
Cao Yu Cao Yu (, September 24, 1910 — December 13, 1996) was a Chinese playwright, often regarded as one of China's most important of the 20th century. His best-known works are ''Thunderstorm'' (1933), ''Sunrise'' (1936) and ''Peking Man'' (1940). ...
) that becomes a star of the film. This characterization is made explicit when the characters profess their love for their homeland, whose very name evokes "beautiful mountains, beautiful maidens" to them. The film was inspired by the ''Wild Yak Brigade'', a real-life volunteer group that patrolled the
Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...
during the 1990s, and events that took place between 1993 and 1996.


Plot

The film opens with the summary execution of a patrol member by poachers and then follows, in quasi-documentary style, reporter Ga Yu (played by Zhang Lei) who is sent from
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to investigate. In Kekexili he meets Ritai (played by Tibetan actor Tobgyal, or Duo Bujie (多布杰) in Mandarin) at the
Sky burial Sky burial (, "bird-scattered") is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds. It is a specific type of the ...
of the deceased patrol member. Ritai is the leader of the vigilantes who, despite poverty and the lack of any government support, roam the land to protect the endangered
Tibetan antelope The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...
from extinction. Admitted into the patrol, Ga becomes a sort of
embedded journalist Embedded journalism refers to news reporters being attached to military units involved in armed conflicts. While the term could be applied to many historical interactions between journalists and military personnel, it first came to be used in the ...
in the hunt for the poachers across Kekexili. The patrol team hunts down a family of poachers and learns from them the whereabouts of their gunman and leader. But the long journey means they can no longer afford to follow on with the entire team and captured poachers. They release the poachers and send one of the cars, driven by Liu Dong (played by Qi Liang), back with the injured and sick team members to the hospital. He does not have sufficient funds for the medical fees and Ritai tells him to sell some antelope skins to raise the money. Ga questioned the sales of antelope skins and learns from Ritai that they have received no funds from the government for at least a year. The two remaining vehicles continue the search but one of them breaks down. Ritai ask them to wait for the other car to return and pick them up, but severe weather forces them to trek their way home. Liu Dong, travelling alone on the way back to join Ritai with his vehicle fully stocked with supplies, is swallowed by
dry quicksand Dry quicksand is loose sand whose bulk density is reduced by blowing air through it and which yields easily to weight or pressure. It acts similarly to normal quicksand, but it does not contain any water and does not operate on the same principle ...
when his vehicle gets stuck. Ritai and Ga finally finds the gunman and leader. But, outnumbered and outgunned, Ritai is killed by the poacher. Ga is free to go as he is not a patrol member. Ritai's body is brought back home for a
Sky burial Sky burial (, "bird-scattered") is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds. It is a specific type of the ...
. Captions at the end of the film state that Ga's reports on the atrocities in Kekexili shook the country. After the authorities initially arrested four patrol members for selling pelts, public pressure had them released, but the patrol is nevertheless disbanded. A year later the Chinese government declared Kekexili a "national nature preserve" and established a forestry bureau to protect it. The captions further state that antelope numbers increased to 30,000 at the time of the film's release.


Production history

The film was shot on location in Kekexili, in both
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
and the
Tibetan language Tibetan language may refer to: * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Lhasa Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also * Old Tibetan, the languag ...
. Except for the two leads Qi and Tobgyal, all of the cast is made of Tibetan amateur actors. Despite the low budget, development benefited from much corporate support, being funded in majority by
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
,
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
and
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...
. The harsh conditions took their toll on the film crew with several members falling ill, including director Lu. Also Alex Graf, production manager from Columbia Pictures, was killed on location in a car accident at age 32. In order to re-enact the shooting death of a Tibetan Antelope, the filmmakers acquired a
Mongolian Gazelle The Mongolian gazelle (''Procapra gutturosa''), or dzeren (russian: Дзерэн), is a medium-sized antelope native to the semiarid Central Asian steppes of Mongolia, as well as some parts of Siberia and China. The name ''dzeren'' is Russian ...
(a second-class protected species under Chinese law) from a nearby reserve, fixed
Tibetan antelope The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...
antlers to it, and then filmed as the animal was killed. According to lead actor Zhang Lei, the crew was upset about this as some had grown affectionate towards the animal actor. The animal was later buried.


Reception

''Kekexili'' was among the few
Mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or Mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC), ...
films to win the Golden Horse Best Film Award in Taiwan's
Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...
, in 2004. It also won the Special Jury Prize at the
Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
in the same year. The film had a profound impact in China in bringing attention the region and the plight of its inhabitants and endangered species. This led the Chinese government to offer much-delayed support to the protection of local species, and played a large part in the proposal of the Tibetan antelope as a candidate for official mascot of the 2008 Summer Olympics.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a score of 98% based on 50 reviews, and an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "In a setting both visually stunning and cruel, this Eastern film evokes the epic spirit of old-fashioned Westerns." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, it has an average score of 77/100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


Awards and nominations

*
Golden Horse Film Festival The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards () is a film festival and awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. It was founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan. The awards ceremony is us ...
, 2004 ** Best Picture ** Best Cinematography —
Cao Yu Cao Yu (, September 24, 1910 — December 13, 1996) was a Chinese playwright, often regarded as one of China's most important of the 20th century. His best-known works are ''Thunderstorm'' (1933), ''Sunrise'' (1936) and ''Peking Man'' (1940). ...
** Best Director — Lu Chuan (nominated) ** Best Actor — Duobujie (nominated) ** Best Original Screenplay — Lu Chuan (nominated) *
Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
, 2004 ** Special Jury Prize ** Grand Prix (nominated) *
Golden Rooster Awards The Golden Rooster Awards () are film awards given in mainland China. The awards were originally given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the shap ...
, 2005 ** Best Film (shared with '' On the Mountain of Tai Hang'') *
Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
, 2005 ** Don Quixote Award * Sundance Film Festival, 2005 ** Grand Jury Prize (nominated) * Huabiao Film Awards, 2005 ** Outstanding Film ** Outstanding Director — Lu Chuan *
Hong Kong Film Awards The Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA; ), founded in 1982, is an annual film awards ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremonies are typically in April. The awards recognise achievement in various aspects of filmmaking, such as directing, screenwriting, ...
, 2006 ** Best Asian Film


References


External links


''Kekexili: Mountain Patrol''
at National Geographic * * * {{Golden Rooster Award for Best Picture 2004 films 2004 drama films Films about Tibet 2000s Mandarin-language films Tibetan-language films Golden Rooster Best Film recipients Films directed by Lu Chuan Chinese drama films