Most films coming out of China these days fall into one of two categories: They’re either jingoistic pap or they’re thinly-veiled recruitment ads for one of the country’s disciplined services. How refreshing, then, is it to watch a film that is neither. SNOW LEOPARD tells a story of what happens when people’s livelihoods butt up against government wildlife management bureaucracy. It’s a situation that ranchers in the US Midwest know all too well but this tale is set in the Tibetan Plateau of Qinghai province where natural and cosmic forces intertwine.

A rare snow leopard has broken into the pen of local herder Jinpu (played by an actor who goes by the same name) killing nine of his rams. A TV crew from Xining hears about it and goes out there to film the animal. Along the way, they pick up one of their old classmates, Nyima (Tseten Tashi), who also happens to be Jinpu’s brother. Since graduating, Nyima has become a Buddhist monk known to the locals as the Snow Leopard Monk due to his ability to seemingly communicate with these majestic and aloof creatures. When they arrive at their destination, they see that Jinpu is in a rage. He wants compensation for his losses or he will kill the animal. The government officials who have been sent there have to abide by the regulations though. Snow leopards are a protected species.

Winner of the Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography awards at the Asian Film Awards held in March, SNOW LEOPARD offers audiences a rare peek into the lives of the people who make their home in this remote part of China. Writer-director Pema Tseden/萬瑪才旦 (JINPA; BALLOON), who passed away shortly before the film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last September, gives his story a quasi-documentary feel, offering viewers a fly-on-the-wall perspective as the TV crew films the events as they unfold. The two brothers couldn’t be more different. Jinpu is hot-headed while Nyima is contemplative. The contrast between the two only grows wider when Nyima decides to enter the pen.

Cinematographer Matthias Delvaux (THE CLOUD IN HER ROOM/她房間裡的雲) treats audiences to a panoramic feast. As barren and windswept as the plateau is, it’s also incredibly beautiful in its starkness. Pema’s story, however, seems slightly undercooked and he would have been well advised to leave some of the scenes, particularly those inside Jinpu’s house, on the cutting room floor. A good 20 minutes could have easily been cut and the film would have been all the better for it.

SNOW LEOPARD opens in Hong Kong on Thursday (May 9th). Overall, it’s a fairly good film and at least it offers viewers of mainland Chinese cinema something different.

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