For moviegoers who are animal lovers and people who yearn for a connection with nature, Wolf Totem is highly recommended.

如果你热爱动物、渴望与大自然亲密接触，那么电影《狼图腾》一定不容错过。

Based on Jiang Rong’s novel of the same name, the 3-D adventure epic is about Chen Zhen (Feng Shaofeng) and Yang Ke (Shawn Dou) being sent from Beijing to Inner Mongolia in the 1960s to live with a nomadic tribe. They are among the 17 million urban middle school grads in the “cultural revolution” (1966-76), who answered Chairman Mao’s call to go work and live with local villagers in poor provinces. After saving the life of a wolf cub and raising it in secret, Chen becomes captivated by the ferocious, agileand intelligent creature.

影片根据中国作家姜戎的同名小说改编，可谓一部3D史诗巨制。故事讲述了20世纪60年代，北京知青陈阵(冯绍峰饰)和杨克(窦骁饰)在内蒙古草原插队时与牧民群落相依相存的故事。在“文化大革命”期间(1966-1976)，两位年轻人响应毛主席的号召，奔赴贫困乡村工作。一次，陈阵救了一只小狼崽，并悄悄将它收养，从此变得对狼非常着迷，深深地爱上了这种凶猛、敏捷而又充满智慧的动物……

French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, who also directed The Bear (1988) and Two Brothers (2004) has proven he knows how to create a movie about wild animals. While watching a pack of wolves ambusha herd of gazelles over the snow-blanketed grasslands, I held my breath just like Chen and gray-bearded local leader Bilig (Basen Zhabu). And during a night snowstorm, as the wolves chased after a group of horses, I could feel the protagonists’ desperation welling up in my throat.

曾执导《熊的故事》(1988)、《虎兄虎弟》 (2004)等影片的法国导演让•雅克•阿诺堪称拍摄野生动物题材的行家。我像陈阵和胡子花白的当地牧民毕利格(巴森 饰)一样，当目睹狼群在雪原上伏击一群瞪羚时屏住了呼吸;而在另一个暴风雪的夜晚，当看到狼群在追逐马群时，我感觉自己就像主人公一样绝望。

Through Annaud’s lens we observe the brutality of the wolves. The director’s close-up shots of the wolves are particularly impressive.

通过阿诺的镜头，我们目睹了狼群的残忍。而导演给狼的特写镜头更是令人印象深刻!

These days, many animals in films are computer animated, such as Caesar in the recent Planet of the Apes movies (2011, 2014) and the tiger that Yang Zirong fights in The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014). But Wang Weimin, the producer of Wolf Totem told China Daily that “our movie needed real wolves”.

如今，很多电影中的动物形象都是电脑动画制作的效果，比如《决战猩球》系列影片(2011, 2014) 中的猿族领袖“凯撒”、《智取威虎山》 (2014)中杨子荣打的“老虎”等。然而，《狼图腾》的制片人王为民表示，“我们的电影需要真正的狼。”

British animal trainer Andrew Simpson spent three years raising and training a pack of wolves for the movie, watching them grow from cubs to adults. During the shooting of the movie, leading actor Feng would play with the wolves, feed them and clean their dens. The process helped Feng develop a deeper understanding of the wild creature. He told Mtime that “Wolves can treat you as friends, but never as owners.”

影片请来号称“狼王”的英国驯兽师安德鲁•辛普森，搭建狼圈，悉心照料，历时三年，看着小狼长大。拍摄过程中，男主演冯绍峰、亲自与狼玩耍、喂狼、打扫狼窝。这个过程使得他对狼的理解变得更加深刻，在接受时光网采访时，他说“狼可以把你当成朋友，但绝不是主人”。

However, wolves are not particularly prone to following a director’s instructions, so Simpson and Annaud sometimes had to wait a whole day just to capture the right scene.

然而，狼可不是乖乖听从导演指示的演员。因此，为拍摄一个特定场景，辛普森和阿诺有时需要等待一整天，才能捕捉到理想的镜头。

One of Wolf Totem’s most prominent themes is the contradiction between nature and humancivilization. To meet the need of feeding a growing population, the ecological balance of the grasslands was destroyed. But much of this theme is presented through Chen’s voiceovers, making the film a bit too didactic.

电影《狼图腾》的主题之一是描述自然与人类文明之间的冲突。为了满足不断增长的人口对粮食的需求，草原的生态平衡遭到了破坏。不过，它主要通过主人公陈阵的画外音中的陈述得以体现，因此使得影片颇有些说教意味。

Another problem with the film is the unnecessary romance between Chen and Gasma, a mother whose husband is killed by wolves. The limited interaction between the two as depicted is not enough to deliver a profound love story. Chen’s relationships with his wolf and Bilig are much more compelling.

电影的另一个问题，则是陈阵和噶斯迈之间多余的感情戏。噶斯迈是一个小男孩的母亲，丈夫因狼群而死。在剧中，两人的互动显得轻描淡写，不足以发展为深刻的爱情故事。倒是陈阵与收养的小狼，以及和蒙古族牧民毕利格(Bilig)的关系则显得更加引人入胜。

But despite a few slight narrative flaws and lackluster 3-D imagery, there’s no denying that with Wolf Totem, Annaud has crafted a film upon a truly original premise.

但是瑕不掩瑜，除了些许叙事上的不足与有些平淡的3D效果，无可否认，《狼图腾》仍是阿诺依据故事原型而打造的一部精良之作。