Wolf Totem (2015)

It's 1967, the second year of the Cultural Revolution. Beijing students Chen Zhen and Yang Ke volunteer for work in Inner Mongolia. They are tasked by dictatorial bureaucrat director Bao Shungui to teach Mandarin to the local tribe. Bilig is the respected tribal leader and Gasma is intrigued with Chen Zhen. The tribesmen herd sheep and live next to wolves which hunt gazelles. The tribe takes some the hunted gazelles which are stored by the wolves in the frozen ground. Bao Shungui returns to take the rest. He leads an effort to root out the underground dens and kill the pups. Chen Zhen ignores tradition and keeps one pup alive. Bao Shungui dismisses the local traditional ways and tries to force modernization.This has the vast grassland and wildlife. There are nice vistas. The story is something like "Dances with Wolves". It tries for an environmental native story but there are a couple of clunky situations that don't exactly fit. The local tribe is more in tune with the environment but they aren't always easy on it. The lead character Chen Zhen is desperately trying to save the wolf pup but it's not really a good idea. The story does not always work but it works enough.

The scenery of Wolf Totem was excellent in a classic IMAX style, back when IMAX was only used to shoot documentaries about wolves versus now when we shoot narratives about them..The action sequences were great as well. This is the third movie this year behind, Max and White God, that actually shows canines battling (This one being with wolves). It amazes me that PETA is not all over these people for showing animals fighting and getting kill in such a real matter. I'm not even a dog lover, but in this day in age it's surprising they do stuff like that on camera.I was also impressed with the human performance of the main actor and his female lead. I could see the passion the lead actor had for the wolf and I did not need subtitles to understand him, very good body language.It was a lovely moving painting.

This film, in general, is not bad, but the original novel's author is obviously strongly influenced by the Chinese Communism. He glorified the heartless Culture Revolution in last century, and never touched the sensitive taboos of those absolute-NO-NOs indoctrinated by the reigning Chinese Party. What we got in this film is a wonderful Inner Mongolian prairies life. Two displaced young Mandarin men were forced to leave their hometown and exiled to the far and remote Inner Mongolia province, trying to survive for the stipulated 2 years expatriation.The production team of this movie had hired some specialists to train a bunch of wolves to play the main and critical roles of this film. I have also read some of the scandals related to the rehabilitation of those wolves after the film was completed. what I found the most pretentious flaw in this film is the female actors to play the Mongolian tribal women (like the females in "Spare Parts 2015). They are extremely eye-appealing and cosmetically pretty, yet the truth about the Mongolian females(like the females in "Spare Parts 2015), most of them are not as pretty as what the movie showed us. The other unrealistic part of the film is the kind faces and the gentle way of talk from the local Chinese Communist Party officials. They looked too civilized and too reasonably kind when treating the Mongolian nomad tribes. The good part of this film is the camera work, the cinematography, it did an amazing job to show us the beauty of the Mongolian wildness, through the lens, it pretentiously beautified the tough livelihood of the local tribes, showed us the wonderful free spirit of those people. But in truth, is it true that the Chinese Communist Party would be that kind? When I watched this film, I have to remind myself that this film was not a documentary film, I had to watch carefully for those phony and false parts of it. When the Chinese Communist Party censors every book, every movie, every TV program, every blog on line, many real things would be carefully omitted and avoided, otherwise, nothing could be released or past the censorship. So it also means that anything that have been approved must not demonize the Party but praise, otherwise jail time and long term imprisonment would be implemented.So don't be fooled by this already heavily cosmetically beautified film, by its beautiful cinematography achievement, by those absolutely unreal Mongolian young beauties.

It saddens me that this film will not receive a wider audience. With an English title of "Wolf Totem" very few outside of France or China will be tempted to see it, but it is their loss.Wolf Totem manages to bring to the big screen the majesty and mystery of wolves. But it is much more than a National Geographic or Animal Planet documentary. (Although those in themselves would be a great success.) It also invites us into the world of Inner Mongolia and tells a compelling tale of human love and loss. This is not Le Renard et L'infant (The Fox and the Child). It succeeds in telling a much grander tale. The acting is all very believable and unlike the usual over-the-top soap opera-esque fare available in most Chinese cinema.But come for the wolves. I could howl their praises all night long.