Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (2004)

Original title

可可西里

Directed by

Lu Chuan

Genre

drama film, action film

Country

People's Republic of China

Runtime

1h 25m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

7.6 of 10 from 88 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In the harsh Tibetan region of Kekexili, volunteer rangers hunt down poachers who are killing protected antelope. The film follows their dangerous work across a vast, unforgiving landscape.

grittybleakcontemplativevisually stunningslow-burnsomberrawatmospheric

What happens

Mountain Patrol: Kekexili (Chinese: 可可西里; Standard Tibetan: ཨ་ཆེན་གངས་རྒྱབ།) is a 2004 Chinese film directed by Lu Chuan that depicts the struggle between vigilante rangers and bands of poachers in the remote Tibetan region of Kekexili. Despite its realistic, detached style, the film evokes the dramatic Western genre in several ways. This includes the portrayal of a masculine, harsh way of life and culture of honour at the frontier of civilization; but also the depiction of a rugged, majestic landscape (captured to great effect by cinematographer Cao Yu) 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 during the 1990s, and events that took place between 1993 and 1996. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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