''Mountain Patrol: Kekexili'' (; ) is a 2004 Chinese film directed by

Lu Chuan Lu Chuan (born 8 February 1971) is a Chinese filmmaker. One of China's Sixth Generation directors, he is known for his films '' Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'' (2004), '' City of Life and Death'' (2009)'', and The Last Supper'' (2012). Early life ...

that depicts the struggle between

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating, and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante is a person who practices or partakes in vigilantism, or undertakes public safety and retributive justice ...

rangers and bands of

poacher Poaching is 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 against the hunti ...

s in the remote

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an region of

Kekexili Hoh Xil or Kekexili (Mongolian language, 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 ...

. 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 (Commonwealth English) or honor (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is a quality of a person that is of both social teaching and personal ethos, that manifests itself ...

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 playwrights of the 20th century. His best-known works are ''Thunderstorm'' (1933), ''Sunrise'' (1936) and ''Peking Man' ...

) 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 Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...

during the 1990s, and events that took place between 1993 and 1996.

Plot

The film opens with the

summary execution In civil and military jurisprudence, summary execution is the putting to death of a person accused of a crime without the benefit of a free and fair trial. The term results from the legal concept of summary justice to punish a summary offense, a ...

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, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

to investigate. In Kekexili he meets Ritai (played by Tibetan actor

Tobgyal Tobgyal (, born May 1958), also called Duobujie (), is a Chinese actor of Tibetan descent, best known in film for portraying a tribal chief in ''Red River Valley'' (1997), Ri Tai in '' Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'' (2004), and Zhan Tiejun in '' No ...

, 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 mahābhūta, elements or to be eaten by Scavenger, scavenging animals, especially vultures, bears and j ...

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 war correspondents 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 ...

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

. 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: * Lhasa Tibetan or Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Any of the other Tibetic languages See also * Ol ...

. Except for the two leads Qi and Tobgyal, all of the cast is made of

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

actors. Despite the low budget, development benefited from much corporate support, being funded in majority by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

and

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

. The harsh conditions took their toll on the film crew with several members falling ill, including director Lu. Also

Alex Graf Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people *Alexand ...

, production manager from Columbia Pictures, was killed on location in a

car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

at age 32. In order to re-enact the shooting death of a Tibetan Antelope, the filmmakers acquired a Mongolian Gazelle (a second-class protected species under Chinese law) from a nearby reserve, fixed

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 Taipei Golden Horse Awards () are a film festival and associated awards ceremony held annually in Taiwan. The festival and ceremony were founded in 1962 by the Government Information Office of the Republ ...

, 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. According to the FIAPF, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals and the second largest film festival in Asia behind 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 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

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, 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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it has an average score of 77/100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

** Best Picture ** Best Cinematography —

** Best Director — Lu Chuan (nominated) ** Best Actor —

Duobujie Tobgyal (, born May 1958), also called Duobujie (), is a Chinese actor of Tibetan descent, best known in film for portraying a tribal chief in ''Red River Valley'' (1997), Ri Tai in '' Kekexili: Mountain Patrol'' (2004), and Zhan Tiejun in '' No ...

(nominated) ** Best Original Screenplay — Lu Chuan (nominated) *

** 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 sha ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

** Best Film (shared with '' On the Mountain of Tai Hang'') *

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

** Don Quixote Award *

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

** Grand Jury Prize (nominated) *

Huabiao Film Awards China Huabiao Film Awards (), also simply known as Huabiao Awards, is an annual awards ceremony for Chinese cinema. Named after the decorative Chinese winged columns (''huabiaos''), The Huabiao Awards were first instituted in 1957 as the Ministr ...

** 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 typically take place in April, and have mostly been held at the Grand Theatre of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre since 1991. The a ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

** Best Asian Film

References

External links

''Kekexili: Mountain Patrol''
at

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

* * {{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 2000s Chinese films Columbia Pictures films