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Director's cut appeals to the heart
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-10-28 08:46
When young director Lu Chuan's "Hoh Xil: Mountain Patrol" (Kekexili) was
released nationwide in early October, few believed it would live up to
expectation as the much-hyped Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai's old Shanghai
romance "2046," and Jackie Chan's Hollywood style action flick "New Police
Story" were being screened.
Film director Lu Chuan
[sina] | In some parts of the country, "Hoh Xil"
was elbowed to a limited number of small theatres and in some other parts, the
screening date of the film was postponed to late October in order to avoid
face-to-face competition with blockbuster films.
It was reported that many Beijing cinemas have shown the two films since
October 1 in the ratio of two "Hoh Xil" for every 25 "2046."
Meanwhile, Shanghai cinemas have put back the release of "Hoh Xil" from
October 1 to October 22 due to the sweeping popularity of "2046" among some
audiences.
However, in recent days, thanks to word of mouth, more and more moviegoers
have flocked to watch this somewhat ignored film. And more and more people have
come to pour their praise on the film.
Huang Lei, an established actor and lecturer at Beijing Film Academy, said:
"I can sense from 'Hoh Xil' the honesty of the director and the actors and
actresses. I can feel the inner strength of the film, its ode to the good and
beauty, its portrayal of characters, even though it is by no means flawless.
Promotion poster of
"Hoh Xil: Mountain Patrol" | "A
stellar cast, winner of international film awards, champion of box office
revenues... these are some of the must-have labels for what is considered a good
movie by many. But 'Hoh Xil' shows that is not necessary so," Huang said.
China Central Television anchor woman Zhang Yue said: "I did not expect to
watch a better film when I sat in a movie theatre for 'Hoh Xil.' But it did win
my heart, really. The film is realistic, and sometimes shocking."
Lu Chuan's father, Lu Tianming, who himself is an accomplished author for
films and TV drama series, reportedly praised him for the new film: "My son, I
believe nobody in the Chinese film circle will question your gift as a film
artist any more."
Due to increasing public acclaim and box office success, some cinemas are
beginning to add extra screening times for "Hoh Xil," publicized as "China's
first Western-style adventure film."
In a realistic approach, the feature film, with investment of about 10
million yuan (US$1.2 million) from Columbia Pictures and Canon, depicts the
life-and-death struggle between poachers and the volunteers, who organize
themselves into a patrol team trying to protect the wild animals, especially the
Tibetan antelope.
From the perspective of a young journalist from Beijing, the film unfolds
with a routine patrol of the volunteers in Hoh Xil, which turns out to be their
last one.
The film features spectacular landscapes ranging from snow-covered mountains,
glaciers, lakes, volcanic lava flows and hot springs.
Hoh Xil (or Kekexili), which lies in the border areas of Southwest China's
Tibet Autonomous Region, Northwest China's Qinghai Province and the Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, was founded in 1995 as a national nature reserve,
covering 45,000 square kilometres at an average elevation of 4,600 metres.
Hoh Xil means "beautiful girl" in the Mongolian language. It is one of the
major headwater sources of the Yangtze River and encompasses an area of 83,000
square kilometres between the Tanggula and Kunlun mountains in the northwestern
part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is China's largest and the world's third
largest uninhabited area.
Despite its hostile climate, the previously undisturbed area has long been a
paradise for wildlife and home to more than 230 species of wild animals, 20 of
which are under State protection, including the wild yak, Tibetan antelope, wild
donkey, white-lip deer and brown bear.
However, the place has been disturbed in recent years by human beings -
especially by poachers of wild animals.
"I was shocked by news reports about the volunteer Tibetan Mountain Patrol
Team in a Guangzhou newspaper in the late 1990s," recalled the 34-year-old
director.
In the 1950s, the population of Tibetan antelope was estimated to be around 1
million. Today, they number just 100,000.
Environment experts say if illegal hunting persists, the Tibetan antelope
could become totally extinct.
The team patrolled Hoh Xil for three years without any support from the local
government.
During that time two patrol captains died. They had to raise money themselves
to buy guns, bullets, and cars to fight poachers equipped with machine guns.
The harsh living conditions made life a real struggle.
Moved and motivated, Lu clipped the story and started working to make it into
a movie.
The shooting of the film finally kicked off last August in Qinghai.
Lu said: "To show the struggle of the average Chinese for a better future in
that corner of China is what I want to accomplish in making this true-to-life
film."
Lu interviewed 10 volunteers and collected relevant documentaries and
articles.
He travelled to Hoh Xil to improve the film screenplay.
When being there, "every day I felt great anxiety and despair. I often
thought it was 'mission impossible'," he recalled.
Dangerous to shoot
During the shooting of the film on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, many of the
production crew, including Lu Chuan himself, fell ill. Some even quitted the
production team.
Alex Graf, production manager from Columbia Pictures, was killed on location
in a automobile accident at age 32.
"But we finally made it. And I think our efforts are rewarded by the
audiences," said Lu.
"I could only finish one third of our schedule each day because people were
too tired and uncomfortable on the high plateau. I had to reduce the number of
scenes and try to tell the story with a minimum plot. Unexpectedly, it had the
effect of making the film more concise and fast-paced.
"You must be there to understand how bad the situation is," Lu says.
Lu claimed that "'Hoh Xil' is by no means a simple film about the protection
of wild life. In the film, one will get a sense of how life is fragile and
elusive in harsh wilderness. The meaning of life for each individual is
constantly questioned under such circumstances."
When it comes to the question of environmental protection, Lu says: "I
believe that the development of local economy and the guarantee of the life of
local people should first of all be taken care of. After that, we can then talk
about protection of the Tibetan antelopes."
The original ending of "Hoh Xil" was just like a gun battle from a Hollywood
western.
In the original script the captain is victorious, but when in Hoh Xil, he
"found it wasn't accurate."
"The leader dies abruptly during the fighting, shot dead by poachers just
like a helpless Tibet antelope. In Hoh Xil, the people can't be victorious. I
want to tell the truth to the audience. I want to show how brutal and bloody the
truth really is, to show the audience what really happened there," he said.
Meanwhile, Lu portrays the poachers as common human beings with greedy
desires and troubled by their own problems. "During my investigation, I have
found that, many of the poachers are former local farmers who lost their lands
to desertification and water shortage."
Lu admits that although the film is not a documentary, many scenes of the
film are actually based on real life people and their stories.
Emotions
Many moviegoers said that they could not help but crying watching the film.
But the director explained that he tried not to make a cheap weepy. Instead, "I
tried to stay cool-headed and be objective , telling the cruel story from a
distance.
The original film was two hours and 40 minutes long. But he deliberately cut
many episodes where there are heart-breaking scenes, in order to give the film a
more reserved tone, Lu said.
Lu was born and grew up in Xinjiang. "I like West China very much. In part,
that love drove me to shoot this adventure film," he said.
The young director said he had a passion for film from early age.
He still remembers vividly his first movie experience watching Zhang Yimou's
"Red Sorghum" at about 15.
"It changed my opinion of film-making - I began to dream of becoming a
film-maker," he recalled.
In 1993, Lu graduated as an English major from the People's Liberation Army
International Relations University in Nanjing of East China's Jiangsu Province.
He got his master's degree from the Directing Department of Beijing Film Academy
in 1998 after joining the Production Centre of China Film Group Corporation.
In 2001, he set up Lu Chuan Film Workshop in collaboration with Beijing Huayi
Taihe Brothers Film Company in the capital.
Lu rose to fame in Chinese film scene two years ago with "The Missing Gun"
(Xun Qiang), starring Jiang Wen, one of China's top actors, which enjoyed both
handsome office income and rave criticism.
The director was relieved that he has made much headway in the art of
film-making.
"In my first feature film 'The Missing Gun' as a director, I paid too much
attention to gimmicks in film techniques but forgot to temper the inner quality
of the film. In 'Hoh Xil' I have tried to make the film more solid in both form
and content," he said.
Among the performers is Qi Liang playing the reporter Ga Yu from Beijing
People's Art Theatre and Tibetan actor Tobgyal (Duo-bujie), playing Ritai, head
of the mountain patrol. He is a professional who graduated from Shanghai Drama
Academy. But the rest of the Tibetan actors and actresses are all amateurs, who
"risked their lives helping me do this movie," said Lu.
His film has been invited for screening at the on-going 17th Tokyo
International Film Festival.
However, the film from a young director with only two films under his belt,
is inevitably flawed.
First of all, the use of an "embedded" journalist from Beijing somewhat makes
the film less convincing and inconsistent.
Also, the lack of experience both in life and in the film-making makes it
hard for the young director to transmit his thoughts and leaves it up to the
audience, particularly in exploring the inner world of the patrol volunteers and
the poachers.
The film concludes rather abruptly when a patrol member is swallowed by the
quicksand. The death does not answer the beginning of the film in the potent
measure expected by the audience.
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