Wolf Totem :: 狼圖騰

Watched Chinese film 'Wolf Totem' directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud. Well, mainly to watch the wolves and sigh at the splendour of the Mongolian steppes. Was so tickled to read an article about the Mongolian wolf pups who were raised and trained for four years to be in the film, and after that, they had to be relocated to Canada after filming because they only understood commands in English. Hahahaha.

Adapted from Lü Jiamin's (his pseudonym is 'Jiang Rong') critically acclaimed (and government disapproved) 2004 novel 'Wolf Totem', the 2015 Chinese language film was years in the making. It's weird because Jean-Jacques Annaud's 'Seven Years in Tibet' is still banned in China. Even with a Chinese film company backing it, the French director had to grovel a little in order to get all the permits to film 'Wolf Totem'. The wolves were beautiful and savage; the winter, landscape and environment were bleak and majestic. Mongolia and its 草原 are ridiculously gorgeous.



Jean-Jacques Annaud's cinematography and dedication to authenticity and care of animals were faultless. To that end, I didn't think the director (and his team) went really deep into the political subtext and criticisms that form the essence of the book. It's probably intentional. The film chose to safely focus on ecological balances versus the pragmatic concerns of a vast country needing to feed its people and justice within its bureaucratic practices. 

With a load of reluctance, I dug out the book to re-read. Even though I love the idea of wolves, and as good as the narrative and words are, the book is a tough one to plough through. 姜戎，真名為'吕嘉民'的著作《狼圖騰》。Set in the years of the Cultural Revolution (文革时期), we follow Beijing students Yang Ke (楊克) and mainly Chen Zhen's (陳陣) observations when he's sent to live with the nomadic herders of Mongolia for two years. Every chapter describes an incident with the wolf packs roaming Inner Mongolia, their hunt for food and how the animals grew desperate as humans invade their foraging territory, urbanized the Mongolian steppes, polluted arable land and deplete the predators' natural prey. It's inevitable that the wolves begin attacking humans and their horses.

老人看小狼的目光柔和了許多，又說：草原人敬拜騰格里還是跟狼學的呐。蒙古人還沒有來到草原的時候，狼早就天天夜夜抬頭對騰格里長嗥了。活在草原太苦，狼心裏更苦，夜裏，老人們聽著狼嗥，常常會傷心落淚。 

陳陣心頭一震。在他的長期觀察中，茫茫草原上，確實只有狼和人對天長嗥或默禱。草原人和狼活在這片美麗而貧瘠的草原上太艱難了，他（牠）們無以排遣，不得不常常對天傾訴。從科學的角度看，狼對天長嗥，是為了使自己的聲音訊息傳得更遠更廣更均勻。但陳陣從情感上，卻更願意接受畢利格阿爸的解釋。人生若是沒有某些神性的支撐，生活就太無望了。陳陣的眼圈發紅。

Packs of the Tibetan wolf or the woolly grey wolf roam these northern plains from Tibet to Mongolia. They're of course endangered, due to humans hunting them for their pelts and to drive them away from preying on domesticated herds of cattle and goats. The Gobi Bear is likely extinct. The numbers of khulan are low. Illegal hunting is flourishing and even though trading in animal parts and fur is illegal, nothing much is stopping the trends.

The Mongolian funeral customs of a 'sky burial', lesser practiced now as the usual burial beneath the ground or cremation rituals are adopted. Much of Mongolian traditional customs have eroded. Likewise, it's a touchy issue with the Chinese government. Tibet, bits of northern Yunnan, and Mongolia. I was lucky to have hung out in yurts for two weeks. Needless to say, I was also in love with the Mongolian plains, horses and the idea of free-spiritedness. All of which is only romantic to the traveler. I'm not sure what the Mongolians think. Very few lead the nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle now.

四年後，一個白毛風肆虐的凌晨，一位老人和一位壯年人騎著馬，駕著一輛牛車向邊防公路跑去，牛車上載著畢利格老人的遺體。大隊的三個天葬場已有兩處棄而不用，一些牧民死後，已改為漢式的土葬，只有畢利格老人堅持要到可能還有狼的地方去。他的遺囑是讓他的兩個遠房兄弟，把他送到邊防公路以北的無人區。 

據老人的弟弟說，那夜，邊防公路的北面，狼嗥聲一夜沒停，一直嗥到天亮。 

陳陣，楊克和張繼原都認為，畢利格阿爸是痛苦的、也是幸運的老人。因為他是額侖草原最後一個由草原天葬而魂歸騰格里的蒙古族老人。此後，草原的狼群再也沒有回到過額侖草原。