MOUNTAIN PATROL Review

MOUNTAIN PATROL (KEKEXILI), 2005 by Lu Chuan

This haunting film is based on the story of an actual volunteer patrol of the Kekexili plateau, in Northwestern Tibet, that attempted to halt poachers from completely exterminating the Tibetan Antelope, or chiru. The patrol was active from 1993 to 1996. The pretext of the film is the visit of a journalist from Beijing, Ga Yu, who arrives to report on the lives and activities of the patrol. It soon becomes apparent that the film is a poignant portrayal of a dispossessed people’s attempt to conserve a part of their natural heritage. The volunteer patrollers work under difficult conditions and risk their lives for these animals. The beautiful landscape is also extremely treacherous and unforgiving, much like the dilemma that these men face. We, much like Ga Yu, the objective and detached observer from Beijing, even in our distance and comfort, cannot in the end but identify and suffer for these men.
Whether this is an allegory of Chinese actions in Tibet, and a suggested adjustement toward a region that they have taken under management, or merely a fictionalized “true-life adventure,” is up to the viewer to decided. Whatever the case, the real life results of the journalist’s work with the patrol resulted in the Chinese government’s establishment of a reserve in Kekexili, and the regeneration of the chiru population.

Available through NETFLIX or CITIZEN VIDEO, Fern Street, San Diego.