Wolf Totem

2015 1h 56m ZH

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

67%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.6

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 410🍅67%Rotten Tomatoes●58Metacritic★6.6IMDB · 6,410

AdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In 1969, a young Beijing student, Chen Zhen, is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia. Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads' traditional enemies - the marauding wolves - to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

William Feng
Chen Zhen
Shawn Dou
Yang Ke
Ankhnyam Ragchaa
Gasma
Yin Zhusheng
Bao Shunghi
Baasanjav Mijid
Bilig
Tumenbayaer
Sang Jie
Han Tongsheng
Huang Xiaolei

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Writers: Jiang Rong, Lu Wei, Jean-Jacques Annaud
Languages: Mongolian, Mandarin
Countries: China, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 11 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mongolian, Mandarin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: China, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, shot by Jean-Marie Dreujou. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Horner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Reynald Bertrand shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jean-Jacques Annaud directs. Jean-Marie Dreujou behind the camera. James Horner scores. Reynald Bertrand cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in China, France. Dialogue in Mongolian, Mandarin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.
2Released 11 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Mongolian, Mandarin.
4International production across 2 countries: China, France.
5Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
6Directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, shot by Jean-Marie Dreujou. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by James Horner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Reynald Bertrand shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9William Feng and Shawn Dou and Ankhnyam Ragchaa carry the top of the cast.
10IMDB entry: tt2909116 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jean-Marie Dreujou
Original score: James Horner
Editing: Reynald Bertrand
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Status: Released
Budget: $38,000,000
Box office: $123,205,624
Return: 324% of budget
Original language: ZH
IMDB: Wolf Totem (2015)
Rotten Tomatoes: 67% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 58/100
IMDB rating: 6.6/10 · 6,410 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

20 wins & 16 nominations total

Huabiao Award for Outstanding Film
Golden Rooster Award for Best Picture

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Jean-Jacques Annaud

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Reno2016-07-24
★ 6/10
When the man and the nature overlaps. A semi biographical adventure-drama from China directed by the French director known for 'Seven Years in Tibet'. He was chosen after many Chinese filmmakers refused to take the project, because of the dedication it required. The film highlighted the outcome of the two ethnic groups, Mongols and Hans overlapping with the mother nature. The film should have been one of the best in the line of 'Siberia Monamour', but there a few things that did not work in its favour. It was just like the 'Embrace of the Serpent', based on a person who went to a distant place with a motive, but learnt another thing. Especially realsing the value of the native people and their land and culture. The main character was totally resembling to the Brad Pitt's role from 'Seven Years in Tibet' and very inspiring. You learn nothing by observing afar, you have to get in and get along to gain knowledge of the place. So you have to be one of them in order to see through their eyes of the place and then would find its true identity. The tale begins in the late 60s during the China's cultural revolution. Two young students from Beijing sent to a remote place in the Inner Mongolia to teach the locals read and write. Instead, one of them gets interested in wolves and decides to study them by raising a cub. During that time, the confrontation between the wolves and for the human encroachment of their natural habitant determines the future of the grassland. The ultimate face-off between them ends with the emotional. "The problem for us Mongols is that our history wasn't written by us, but mostly by our enemies." When you don't belong to that place, you should not intervene in its natural order. The China's history is always bad when it comes to the land grabbing, either it is the ongoing South China Sea dispute or the Tibet and thousands of others. This is such a film made by China itself that spotlights their wrongdoings. Just see the film to know how much different the Mongolian, especially the nomad culture and the Han-Chinese. They' both saw the mother nature with different intentions. So imposing one land's rule to another does not work and that's the film's most important message. Very sad the film was not realistic since it was based on a real story. Visually it was very good, especially the locations were spellbinding and used so well to tell a story, but the animal behaviours were too silly, something like that happen in the children's stories. Then there's evidence the animals were harmed during making it, so feels uncomfortable in many scenes and I won't advise kids to watch it if they're very fond of the animals. In that angle this film got a completely a wrong motion picture rating. If you are a light hearted, you should as well turn away from it. Because even though they won't show the killings, in a few segment they were just graphics and make-up, but still you are definitely going to feel the pain, very disturbing film. In a few scenes, feels bad for what Mongols regrets for letting the Hans to do all the terrible things to their land despite at one stage of the history they were more superior than them. At least the film ended on a positive note, only because of the alteration in the screenplay from the controversial book. It was originally selected to represent the previous Oscars, but soon it replaced with another to avoid the International humiliation. I think the film was not that terrible, but not being true to the book was the issue. It is very hard to suggest it, it might upset you for the various reasons, so all I can say is choose wisely. 6/10

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