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Horse Thief [VHS]

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This Chinese movie by Zhuangzhuang Tian, released in 1986 was quite famous when it came out, and it caused enough trouble to its director in his country due to the "political implications" of the story. Zhuangzhuang Tian at that time had only filmed a few movies and some TV work, but he showed interest toward the Chinese ethnic minorities and the social and economical problems present in China in the 1980's. In particular in this film he wanted to reflect on the conditioning of society on the individual, and on how often the criminal existence can be the only choice, because minorities are not given a chance at integration.
The story is removed in time and place from China and Peking, but even though political authorities had meditated on the release of the movie for 8 months, as soon as it came out it was immediately withdrawn.

The story takes place in 1923 in a locality of Tibet. Norbu is a horsethief and lives with wife Dolma and a beautiful little child Drashi in a poor village together with all his clan. One day he robs a group of pilgrims that are taking offerings to the Temple. This action brings shame on all the clan and Norbu and his family are sent away from the village. They go live in a remote valley, near a river in a tent. Due to the terrible living conditions Drashi falls sick and dies. Norbu and his wife dedicate themselves to repentance and perform all the Buddhist ceremonies and prayers. Fortunately Dolma remains pregnant and has another child. But the survival of the family is at stake and Norbu has to go back to his criminal activity to guarantee the survival of his child.
The movie is structured like a mute film and the dialogue is practically inexistent, but this only adds to the beauty of the scenes and the way the camera conveys all the meanings without words. Only the chants of the monks and the sounds of the musical instruments remain in our ears. In a succession of powerful scenes Tian tells this tale of the Tibetans strive for survival in a harsh and uncompromising environment. The very realistic scenes with animals and carions are impressive and the magnificent Tibetan plane country in all seasons touches the heart. Some images like that of Norbu with his dead son in the snow or the Granny's prayer wheel on the ground are real classics.
Today this film will be seen only by lovers of Chinese cinema but it still retains all its declared and hidden meanings.