Unique perspectives chronicling the inspiring and true stories of the Tibetan vigilante group who forged their own way of life hunting poachers in the Chinese highlands, one of the most remote, harshest environments in the world. These modern day crusaders had absolutely no sponsorship, no pay, no nothing, and yet would risk everything, time and time again to potentially allow their sacred antelope that much longer time on earth before the mass killings drive this animal into complete extinction. Thanks to the real life attention this earnest movement eventually got, the mountain patrol was able to keep this holy animal from not only becoming extinct, although it did once come dangerously close, but created an environment that eventually saw the animals thriving again. At the center, the film articulates the fear one must associate with at the onset of complete desolation, being totally at the mercy of mother nature's fury in a land where no man can touch. These scenes that document the Mountain Patrol in their epic struggle to catch the poachers are hauntingly effective in their portrayal of the vast open space and hopelessness that occurs after initial boundaries are exceeded; you literally feel like you will be stuck out in the middle of nowhere, waiting to die along with the characters in this film. While in no ways matching the emotional impact of the absolute horror of those abandonment sequences, the whole movie does substantially, and gorgeously render the patrol's entire quest to seek out, once and for all, the main mass murderer of these beautiful beasts, which guides us along through the perspective of an incoming Chinese reporter who is taxed with researching and documenting the lifestyle of this truly extraordinary patrol. While the authentic Tibetan perspectives complement the original story and action, by far the movie's greatest asset is it's truly terrifying portrayal of the fragility of man in overwhelming environmental situations, rendering the otherwise average aspects of the film far more profound.
Review of Mountain Patrol
