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A scene from Kekexili |
Danger on the mountain
KEKEXILI: MOUNTAIN PATROL
Directed by Chaun Lu
Certificate 15
THIS is a majestic film, marrying an exciting frontiersman Western-style tale with a careful moral about treating the natural world with dignity.
The story takes place against the dramatic backdrop of Kekexili, the largest nature reserve in China. It appears at first to be barren landscape, but its lunar beauty is home to many rare species.
One of these is the Tibetan antelope. It is much prized for its pelt, and therefore has become the target for poachers.
The animals are slaughtered in their hundreds and the numbers have fallen from around a million to less than 10,000 – prompting Tibetan villagers to form anti-poaching patrols.
This film brings up subtle questions of the battle over creating wealth using what the poachers would say are the area’s natural resources, against what the patrols say are creatures of the Earth and that humans have no right to exploit for material gain.
Regardless of that, this film is like a classic Western. The patrols substitute horses for tough looking off-road vehicles, and the mountain range takes the place of the prairie. But the battle between the two sides is as clear as any goodie versus baddie Wayne or Eastwood flick.
Ga Yu is a photojournalist sent from Beijing to find the story of the mountain patrol.
He has been sent to cover the story after his paper hears of murders between the two groups, and when he arrives at the Tibetan village of Kerkekili he finds the patrol in mourning, a Tibetan funeral taking place. It is a stiff introduction into the dangers the patrols face as they seek to protect their way of life.
And he wins the confidence of the patrol and heads out with them into the mountains to track down the groups of poachers and stop them from killing more antelopes.
The patrolmen bury 10,000 antelope a year, showing the sheer scale of the poachers’ work.
Ri Tai is suspicious at first of Ga Yu – but the photographer says his work will bring much needed publicity and could help establish stronger laws to protect the antelope.
The harshness of the environment is similar to Ri Tai’s own frosty outlook. Although clearly a man of compassion, he is brutal in his means to achieve what he wants.
While chasing a group of poachers, one of the patrolmen collapses – the high altitude knocking him flat. To pay for a doctor, Ri Tai orders the group to sell the pelts from the animals they are supposed to be protecting.
Later a gang of poachers who have been arrested are cast out in the wilderness to fend for themselves when supplies run low. This pragmatic approach is the only way the patrol can continue to do their job.
As the film develops, Ga Yu becomes more involved with the patrol and their own plight: he steps over the boundary of being a casual observer after a good story to becoming actively involved.
The tragedy is etched across the grizzled features of the players in this film.
It is absorbing, slow paced, the soundtrack made up of whistling winds, snow crunching under foot and thawing glaciers tinkling across boulders. Each scene is hypnotic, and invites the viewer on a sight seeing tour of one of the most incredible landscapes on earth.
For the photographer, it is a life changing event. Ga Yu’s time with the patrol leads to an epiphany, and he finds a faith he previously did not have in the sanctity of life. |
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