Mountain Patrol (Kekexili) (2006)
94%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: 21 wins & 22 nominations
In a setting both visually stunning and cruel, this Eastern film evokes the epic spirit of old-fashioned Westerns.
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili is a movie that will take your breath away, both figuratively and literally. The stunning scenery and intense chase scenes will leave you in awe, while the environmental message will make you want to hug a tree (or at least recycle). It’s like Moby Dick, but with yaks instead of whales. And if you’re not convinced yet, there’s a scene where a guy gets sucked into quicksand. Need I say more?
Production Company(ies)
Columbia Pictures, Huayi Brothers Media, National Geographic World Films,
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
China
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images, brief sexuality and language
Year of Release
2004
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):Mandarin, Tibetan
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Aug 29, 2006
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Mountain Patrol: Kekexili, starring Duobujie, Zhang Lei, Qi Liang, Xueying Zhao, directed by Chuan Lu, written by Chuan Lu, drama, PG-13 rating, box office gross of $142.2K, reviewed by Marrit Ingman, Steven Rea, Robert Denerstein, Bruce Westbrook, John Hartl, Roger Ebert, Panos Kotzathanasis, Rob Humanick, Jeffrey Chen, Eric D Snider, Jack Garner, Phil Villarreal, endangered antelope, poaching, Tibet, volunteer patrolmen, environmental awareness, spiritual mindfulness, Western, true story, Dolby Digital, Yang Du, Zhonglei Wang, Aug 29 2006, 1h 30m, Chinese language
Worldwide gross: $185,920
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $293,286
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,860
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 31,983
US/Canada gross: $143,383
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $226,185
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,523
US/Canada opening weekend: $16,915
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $26,683
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,410
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): CN¥10,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Zhang Lei – Ga Yu
Qi Liang – Liu Dong
Xueying Zhao – Leng Xue
Ma Zhanlin
Gensong Yongcuo
Yang Jin
Director(s)
Chuan Lu
Writer(s)
Chuan Lu
Producer(s)
Yang Du, Zhonglei Wang
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
21 wins & 22 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (1)
Mixes environmental awareness and spiritual mindfulness with its chase scenes through grand scenery.
June 3, 2006 | Rating: 3/5
Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Breathtakingly beautiful, breathtakingly brutal and simply breathtaking.
May 26, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Much of the time, the movie plays like a catalog of challenges sprawled over terrain so forbidding that you can’t watch it without feeling a steep measure of awe.
May 19, 2006 | Rating: B
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
TOP CRITIC
Instead of a laudable ecological crusade, the film feels more like a futile Captain Ahab obsession, with patrol leader Ri Tai (Duobujie) vainly chasing a poaching kingpin through the harsh, windy wilderness.
May 12, 2006 | Rating: 1.5/4
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
One of the most beautiful and disturbing widescreen epics in last year’s Seattle International Film Festival.
May 5, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4
John Hartl
Seattle Times
TOP CRITIC
What is remarkable is that this film is based on a true story, and filmed on the actual locations.
May 5, 2006 | Rating: 3.5/4
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
TOP CRITIC
Lu Chuan uses a rather unique approach for his narrative, combining elements of documentary , road movie, and western
January 19, 2020
Panos Kotzathanasis
Asian Movie Pulse
An ode to the great sacrifices that often accompany the will to do the right thing.
November 5, 2007 | Rating: B+
Rob Humanick
Projection Booth
Moby Dick with a progressive spin.
October 13, 2006 | Rating: 8/10
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies
August 14, 2006 | Rating: 4/5
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com
One of those films that opens eyes to distant lands and problems and yet carries a sense of drama and a humane moral tone that conveys an appeal that’s simultaneously exotic and universal.
July 28, 2006 | Rating: 8/10
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
The film’s most memorable visual spectacle, of a man getting sucked into a pool of quicksand, is also the most resonant. Man may think he rules over nature, but it can take him back at any moment.
July 6, 2006 | Rating: 3/4
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star…
Plot
The Tibetan Mountain Patrol, a self-sponsored outcast regimen established to eliminate illegal slaughtering of endangered Tibetan Antelopes by impoverished local and out-of-province peasants, intimately engages with a half-Tibetan journalist from Beijing in a desolate depiction of human nature in the outskirts of Kekexili.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film features a cast of mostly non-professional actors, with many of the patrolmen playing themselves.
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