Director praises China censors for not meddling with ‘Wolf Totem’ film
Print Edition
The French director of the film “Wolf Totem” said he had complete freedom from China’s censors in his adaptation of the Chinese novel, which touches on divisive themes including the degradation of grasslands in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
In China, all broadcast media and films are pre-screened for approval.
“Wolf Totem” was written by Lu Jiamin under the pseudonym Jiang Rong.
An environmental cautionary tale that pits a pack of wolves against an influx of settlers to the grasslands during the late 1960’s “cultural revolution, the 2004 bestselling novel also includes critiques of Chinese culture and governance.
Director Jean-Jacques Annaud said that while he understood he “may have been an exception,” Chinese censors made no modifications to his screenplay.
“What I can say is that I had carte blanche at every level until this day. The movie you see is the same movie I cut,” Annaud said on Sunday in Beijing ahead of the film’s release in China later this month.
The book won the first Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007.
Chinese officials hope to expand the global imprint of the country’s culture and arts and government pronouncements and state media often discuss plans for “cultural reform” to this end.
“Definitely, in order to achieve soft power, there will be a need to allow artistic freedom,” Annaud said of the development of China’s film industry under state censors.
Much like the book, Annaud’s US$40 million movie, backed by the state-run China Film Group, deals with conservation themes head on, though it largely avoids the book’s more subtle political issues.
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