KEKEXILI/ MOUNTAIN PATROL
China, 2004, 90 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Lu Chuan.
If you were told that this was a fine film about Tibetan antelope and its possible extinction, you might be tempted to put it on the long finger, the very long finger. But, you would be wrong. There is much more than the plight of the antelope. There is a very beautiful film. It is also quite a tough film.
There is probably something of the National Geographic or the Discovery channel in all of us. Exotic places exercise a beguiling fascination. The locations for Mountain Patrol are definitely exotic: Tibet and remote mountain areas of China.
As regards the very beautiful, the scenery is breathtaking, especially on a big screen. The story takes place in the Kekexili on the Qinghai-Tibetan? Plateau, 5,000 metres high. The mountains are immense and high. The plains are generally rocky, with frozen rivers and pockets of quicksand. The impact is so overwhelming that we feel that we have been taken there to feel its isolation, the cold and winds, the desolation. Yet, it is all extraordinarily beautiful.
As regards the tough, the plot needs a little explanation. We are told that it is based on actual events during the 1990s. Poachers roam the Plateau, searching for the antelopes, armed with rifles and massacring the animals, 500 at a time. Their pelts sell well on the illegal international markets.
At the same time, the locals set up a patrol group under the leadership of Ri Tai (played with gravity and authority by Duo Bujie). They pursue the poachers, the locals who do the skinning and their drivers. This time they take a young Beijing reporter (Zhang Lei). This is no easy expedition. It is physically demanding and not everyone survives.
Reports about the making of the film describe the continuous effects of altitude illnesses on all involved, the freezing conditions – and the enthusiasm of the largely amateur cast. It was a gruelling production and it is compellingly gruelling to watch.
Information at the end tells us that the reporter’s articles led to the Chinese government declaring the area a national and protected park and that the antelope numbers are increasing again.
