Filmed on location in some of the harshest terrain, Kekexili is a film for lovers of great cinematography, animals, the environment, and Tibet. I don't often give 10's for my reviews, but then I don't often run across a movie as great as this.
Kekexili is basically a Tibetan western. The Tibetan Antelope have been hunted mercilessly for their pelts which bring good prices for poachers. A group of barely paid citizen volunteers get together and for about 3 years patrol the mountains to try and catch poachers. The men carry machine guns and give plenty of warning shots because their unsanctioned job is to fine or arrest, not to kill the poachers. This is admirable, considering the lack of support from most everyone else and the fact the poachers have no problem killing the patrolmen and do.
A Chinese reporter from Beijing accompanies the patrol to various cold, barren locales in the mountains. Some of what he finds along the way seems contradictory to what he originally felt the patrol stood for: occasionally they sold the pelts they confiscate to get money for their provisions when they don't have enough money themselves(or if one of their number gets shot by a poacher). A great quote from the patrol captain was something along the lines of "Have you seen the prostrators on their pilgrimage? Their faces and hands are filthy, but their hearts are pure." Animal lovers will have a love-hate relationship with this film as some animals are actually killed. And the scene where the patrolmen find literally dozens of carcasses, stripped of their pelts by men and their flesh and internal organs by hordes of vultures, is difficult to watch. They haul the dead antelope bodies to a pit and burn them. The clacking of their bones as they are hauled over the earth is quite unsettling, like a deathly wind chime.
For the most part, the Tibetan actors are amateurs, but it works unbelievably well. The landscape will take your breath away just as quickly as it did for the patrolmen when they began to get bloody noses from the high altitudes. The film crew had a grueling time with this film; one member was killed in a car accident. Unforgiving climates, harsh and unvegetated terrain, and miles and miles with no towns...it's quite a spectacle, like a frozen desert.
I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, but don't look for a happy ending, unless you're an antelope.
Kekexili is basically a Tibetan western. The Tibetan Antelope have been hunted mercilessly for their pelts which bring good prices for poachers. A group of barely paid citizen volunteers get together and for about 3 years patrol the mountains to try and catch poachers. The men carry machine guns and give plenty of warning shots because their unsanctioned job is to fine or arrest, not to kill the poachers. This is admirable, considering the lack of support from most everyone else and the fact the poachers have no problem killing the patrolmen and do.
A Chinese reporter from Beijing accompanies the patrol to various cold, barren locales in the mountains. Some of what he finds along the way seems contradictory to what he originally felt the patrol stood for: occasionally they sold the pelts they confiscate to get money for their provisions when they don't have enough money themselves(or if one of their number gets shot by a poacher). A great quote from the patrol captain was something along the lines of "Have you seen the prostrators on their pilgrimage? Their faces and hands are filthy, but their hearts are pure." Animal lovers will have a love-hate relationship with this film as some animals are actually killed. And the scene where the patrolmen find literally dozens of carcasses, stripped of their pelts by men and their flesh and internal organs by hordes of vultures, is difficult to watch. They haul the dead antelope bodies to a pit and burn them. The clacking of their bones as they are hauled over the earth is quite unsettling, like a deathly wind chime.
For the most part, the Tibetan actors are amateurs, but it works unbelievably well. The landscape will take your breath away just as quickly as it did for the patrolmen when they began to get bloody noses from the high altitudes. The film crew had a grueling time with this film; one member was killed in a car accident. Unforgiving climates, harsh and unvegetated terrain, and miles and miles with no towns...it's quite a spectacle, like a frozen desert.
I don't want to spoil too much of the plot, but don't look for a happy ending, unless you're an antelope.