During the Cultural Revolution of 1967, students were sent to the countryside where they worked on farms. Our hero Chen Zhen (Shaofeng Feng) and his friend Yang Ke (Shawn Dou) decided to go to Mongolia, where they stayed with nomads who lived a primitive existence.
Their leader was a wise old man, whom they stayed with, and who taught them not only about farming, but about life and the appreciation of the circle of life. Being sheep farmers, their biggest threat was wolves. The wolves hunt the gazelles, and bury them in a frozen lake to ensure a food supply for their pups the next summer. The villagers dig up some of these frozen gazelles for meat for themselves, but leave enough for the wolves so they don't attack their sheep.
However, when Director Bao learns of the frozen lake, he bribes Yang Ke to reveal its location. He then digs up all the gazelles, leaving the wolves with no food. To make matters worse, they decide to kill all the wolf cubs. Fascinated by the wolves, Chen Zhen decides to capture a wolf cub to study it, but he falls in love with the little wolf and raises it like a dog.
'Wolf Totem' is visually stunning with breathtakingly beautiful cinematography. The wolves are creepy, and there are a few seriously tense moments. Not to give away anything, the storm/horse/wolves scene was STUNNING and nail-biting!
Some of the animal attack scenes are very difficult to watch. Yes, I understand most of it were done by trained wolves, and make-up, and clever editing to make the attacks look realistic, but to see young wolf pups tied up and being dragged behind a wagon was indeed difficult to watch. There's no way these little pups could have been trained and therefore must have been subjected to the 'cruel' behaviour for real. Also, the first two acts were much better than the final act.
Nevertheless, this is a well made film and it certainly looks incredible on screen. It's almost worth watching just for the cinematography alone - and the hauntingly beautiful score by James Horner. Note how scenes suddenly cut from a dark interior to a bright green or bright blue exterior. Stunning! It's like heaven to the eyes.
