Mountain Patrol (2004) on Netflix
Reporter Ga Yu travels from Beijing to Kekexili, a remote Tibetan region, to investigate the poaching of endangered antelope. He meets Ritai, who leads a volunteer patrol protecting the animals.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.6/105,785 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes98%
Trailer
Plot summary
Poachers slaughter endangered Tibetan antelope for their pelts in Kekexili, a remote region of the Tibetan Plateau. A volunteer patrol of vigilante rangers roams the mountains to protect the animals from extinction, short of money and without government support. The patrol loses a member to the poachers. Reporter Ga Yu is sent from Beijing to investigate, and at the dead man's sky burial he meets Ritai, the patrol's leader, who admits him into the group. Ga rides with the men as an embedded journalist while they hunt the poachers across the high country in a handful of vehicles. They track down a family of poachers.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Mountain Patrol (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- To re-enact a Tibetan antelope being shot, the filmmakers acquired a Mongolian gazelle (a second-class protected species in China) from a nearby reserve, fixed Tibetan antelope antlers to it and filmed as it was killed. Lead actor Zhang Lei said the crew was upset, as some had grown fond of the animal, which was later buried.
- The harsh conditions of the Kekexili shoot made several crew members ill, including director Lu Chuan, and Alex Graf, a production manager from Columbia Pictures, was killed in a car accident on location at the age of 32.
- The film had a profound impact in China, drawing attention to Kekexili's people and endangered species. It led the government to give long-delayed support to protecting local species and played a large part in the proposal of the Tibetan antelope as a candidate for official mascot of the 2008 Summer Olympics.
- The film was inspired by the Wild Yak Brigade, a real-life volunteer group that patrolled the Tibetan Plateau during the 1990s, and by events that took place between 1993 and 1996.
