NO MAN’S LAND/WU REN QU

China, 2014, 117 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Ning Hao.

This is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed!

As the credits begin, we are in a desert, a bird-handler pursuing falcons – to the accompaniment of the musical score which obviously pays homage to spaghetti westerns. In fact, spaghetti westerns is the clue. The look, the colour grading, the musical score, the stances of the characters, the dangers and the violence are all reminiscent of the classic spaghetti westerns.

After the capture of the falcon, there is a car crash and a pursuing policeman is killed. Then we are in court, with a young, quite arrogant lawyer making the defence of the poachers. He is dressed in suit and tie, quite a contrast to the look of these people in the north-west of China, at the edge of the Gobi desert. But this does not last long!

The smart lawyer, persuades the poachers to give him their car as part of his payment. Which is what they wanted, because they have concealed the falcon in the car and plan a hold-up to get the bird and then to sell it on to the international dealers. Great plan, but, of course, it does not work out this way – at all.

Part of the disaster for the lawyer occurs early on, when he irritatedly overtakes a truck with two local drivers who do not take kindly to his behaviour, spit on his windshield and then break it. The consequence of the break means that the plan about the falcon goes completely awry.

The film-makers and we, the audience, all have our tongues placed firmly in our cheek for the further adventures of the lawyer who finishes up being an absolute wreck and dishevelled. He tries to get help at a local service station, managed by isolated eccentrics, who have a young woman imprisoned for sexual purposes. Doesn’t spoil the plot to say that she gets away and hides in the lawyer’s car.

In the meantime, the drivers of the truck are in pursuit, the main poacher is in pursuit, the man who caught the bird in the first place has been injured and thought to be dead – but, of course, he is not, and so on the action on the highway continues.

The film would not be a tribute to the spaghetti westerns unless there was a kind of good, bad and ugly finale, the shootout, with explosions and fire, all spectacularly done.

The plot is complicated, there are quite a number of twists, and there are also quite a number of deaths. But, to let the audience out of the cinema a bit more gently, there is an epilogue that is rather sweet considering all that we have watched beforehand.

This is one of those films which will get something of a cult reputation as people enjoy it and make the Italian-Chinese? connections.

1. A Chinese story? The debt to spaghetti westerns? The score, colour grading, the landscapes, action? The droll irony?


2. The title, North West China, the locations, the look, the isolation, meagre settlements, the roads, the Gobi desert?

3. The influence of thrillers with isolated danger, Wolf Creek, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, …? The Chinese treatment?

4. The voice-over, the story of the monkey, evolution, monkeys helping each other, creating fire, becoming human? The lawyer drawing on the story throughout the film?

5. The falcon, its capture? The captor, his arrest, the crash and the death of the policeman, the tone of the crash, tongue-in-cheek, the build-up of the violence, the body count?

6. In the court, Pan, young, smart, his suit and tie? His arrogance in the court? Towards the defendant? The interrogation of the policeman, the evidence of the lunch bill, alcohol? Offering clues rather than proof?

7. The acquittal, the restaurant, the discussion of the fee, the lawyer wanting the car, the irony of the defendant tricking him to take the falcon? Cleaning the car, driving, meeting the police witness and the ironic conversation with him?

8. The lawyer overtaking the truck, smug? The driver spitting on the car? Stopping, the confrontation, his escape, their throwing the bottle and smashing the windscreen? the windscreen and his hitting the captor of the Falcon? Waiting to pick up the Falcon?

9. The dismal centre, the types there, the owner, his slow-witted son, the exorbitant fees, the woman watching the TV, wanting extra money, the girl, her performance, the reaction of the lawyer, her stories? Re-filling the car and mending the windscreen when asked not to?

10. The lawyer thinking the captor was dead, pouring the petrol on him, not having a lighter, returning to the station, the woman, watching TV, laughing, asking for the extra money, especially to keep the information secret?

11. The girl, her story, telling stories, about dancing, wanting to leave, collecting the money, hiding in the boot, the captor alive, and reactions in fear?

12. The vehicles, her crying out for help, crashing off the road?

13. The truck, the drivers, in pursuit, confronting the lawyer, the defendant arriving in his truck, shooting? Pan assisting the wounded driver? The return, the
shooting of the brother?

14. The girl, her fear, the crash, the truck, the owner arriving, his son, the irony of the wounded man defying the son, joking about his hammer, the son killing him with the hammer? The father taking the falcon? The car being horse-drawn? The defendant coming on the owner, killing him and getting the falcon?

15. Pan left in the car, the hose from the exhaust, the policeman saving him, not believing him, Pan overturning the car, the radio message for the police to come?

16. Pan, riding on the horse, as in a western, pursuing the defendant, confronting the falconers and their deals, explaining the phone call to the police, they’re burying the girl, Pan and the call-back, the fight amongst the falconers and the defendant? His saving the girl, her being pursued?

17. The defendant, calling the police, pursuing the woman, Pan and the defendant in the truck, his lighting the cigarette lighter and the explosion?

18. Pan, the money, the burning of the money? The final explosion? The irony?

19. The girl, going to the dance school, admitting the truth about herself, the kind teacher giving her a job, working with the girls, her future?