Wolf Totem (2015) on Netflix
In 1969, Chen Zhen, a student from Beijing, is sent to Inner Mongolia to teach the herdsmen. He learns the nomads' bond with the wolves and takes in a wolf cub.
- Netflix3.0/5
- IMDb6.6/106,568 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1969, during the Cultural Revolution, Chen Zhen, a student from Beijing, is sent to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to teach the herdsmen who live there. He comes to know the wolves of the steppe and the bond the herders share with them. The wolves are the nomads' traditional enemies, ranging in from the north, while settled life advances from the south and the herders are caught between the two. A government apparatchik regards the nomads' bond with the wolves as a problem. Chen Zhen takes in a wolf cub to raise.
Cast
- Ba Sen Zha Buas Bilig (as Basen Zhabu)
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Wolf Totem (2015)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Jean-Jacques Annaud said one of the hardest scenes was a pack of wolves attacking horses in a blizzard at night; the crew used a prop horse marked with sausage scent and grips pushed it away from the wolves so they would chase it.
- After filming, the wolves used in Wolf Totem were relocated to Canada because they only understood commands in English.
- Wolf Totem director Jean-Jacques Annaud had his personal ban lifted, though his 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet remains banned in China to date.
- To preserve the grasslands, director Jean-Jacques Annaud had his crew walk to locations carrying equipment instead of using vehicles, though it slowed and cost the production; he sometimes walked over 10 kilometers himself.
- Despite precautions taken by the production, actor Feng Shaofeng was injured by a wolf during the filming of Wolf Totem.
- Wolf Totem, which cast William Feng Shaofeng and Shawn Dou in the leading roles, marked the first Chinese production by a non-Chinese director.
- China's government refused to let any wolves leave the country because its wolf population was dwindling, so Scottish animal trainer Andrew Simpson moved from his ranch in Canada to China to teach 35 wolves to sit, snarl and fight on cue.
- Wolf Totem was the final film released in James Horner's lifetime; he died four months later, in June 2015.
