Call of the Wild
“According to Tibetan legend, the day the world’s first ray of sunlight struck Mount Kailash in Ngari Prefecture of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, was the day the first yak (牦牛)was born. Kailash’s ridges are the yak’s backs. Yaks are the herd of the mountain god.” The narration is accompanied by shots of picturesque (优美的) plateaus and snow-capped mountains, taking viewers right into the vast wilderness of Tibet.
This is the opening scene of the documentary The Land of Spirits. It tells the tale of four “holy” animals-the wild yak, white dolphin, Asian elephant and Amur tiger. They were used as totems (图腾) in ancient times but today, they are the species that best reflect the region’s ecological status.
Principal director Zeng Hairuo set out to document the relationship between humans and these animals. But why are they “holy”? In ancient times, human power alone was not strong enough to accomplish big things and so huge wild animals were honored as gods; but with the development of modernization, mankind began to disappoint nature.
The film illustrates the land through the creatures living on it; it’s also not a purely animal-focused story because it contains the interaction between these creatures, ancient people and contemporary people as well as presents the prehistory of the land and the source of local culture through the stories of animals and humans alike. “We want to help rebuild mankind’s reverence (敬畏) for life, for animals, and restore our ability to communicate with nature, ” Zeng said.
“This is the difference between Eastern and Western thinking,” Zeng said. “The Western documentary style prefers more sub-disciplines and a subdivision of research.” Zeng brings the audience a typical Chinese way of recording the scene: nature and humanity as one, in other words, one story mixing animals, mankind and nature.
As far as Zeng is concerned, one cannot mention these four animals without bringing in the human factor. Observing these animals is like looking in a mirror for humans, which makes this documentary stand out from many other nature documentaries, he said.
4. Why does the documentary feature four remarkable animals?
A.To serve as totems. |
B.To promote the modernization. |
C.To represent the local ecosystem. |
D.To reflect the human-animal conflict. |
5. What can we learn about the story from paragraph 4?
A.It shows the native culture. |
B.It describes the animals in Tibet. |
C.It tells the life of the people there. |
D.It motivates man’s respect for nature. |
6. What makes the film unique?
A.The technique-based style. |
B.The human-centered theme. |
C.The picturesque scenes. |
D.The wisdom of harmony. |
7. What does the director think of the film?
A.Instructive. | B.Appealing. |
C.Entertaining. | D.Persuasive. |