Against the pack mentality
Wolf Totem
(out of 4) Starring Shaofeng Feng, Shawn Dou. Co-written and directed by JeanJacques Annaud. Opens Friday at GTA theatres in IMAX. 121 minutes. PG Two young men from big city Beijing are sent to the steppes of Inner Mongolia as part of the tumultuous Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s, where they struggle to survive and adapt in the face of spartan conditions and an ancient nomadic lifestyle that is completely alien to them. One of them, Chen Zhen, goes against tribal wisdom and, with the support of a local Communist party boss, adopts a wild wolf cub. But all around the vast plains, Mongolian wolves find themselves increasingly pushed back and exterminated as humankind encroaches.
Using 3D, French director JeanJacques Annaud creates a landscape of beauty and majesty in a story with a not-too-subtle environmental message.
There is a sense of deep melancholy throughout, as mournful as the nighttime howls of the wolves, which Annaud treats with a reverence approaching awe.
Some audience members will find a couple of scenes — the killing of baby wolves and the wholesale slaughter of others — deeply disturbing, but that is rather the point.
Shaofeng Feng is an appealing protagonist as Chen and there are some great supporting performances, including Ankhnyam Ragchaa as the young widow he is drawn to and Ba Sen Zha Bu as tribal elder Bilig.
The story is infused with local Mongolian lore — itself also under threat from the dominant culture of China — creating a mystical landscape of sorts that exists alongside the real one, which Annaud displays in rapturous detail.
But the story’s pace often feels too languorous and does require some patience from the audience.