The Horse Thief

The Horse Thief is a 1986 Chinese film by director Tian Zhuangzhuang. It follows one of Tian's favorite topics, Chinese minorities, a topic he touched upon in 1984's On the Hunting Ground and would return to in 2004's documentary, Delamu. Like these other films, The Horse Thief shows Tian's fascination with China's ethnic minorities, and in particular the Buddhist ceremonies that these peoples practice.

The Horse Thief
Film poster
Traditional	盜馬賊
Simplified	盗马贼
Mandarin	Dào mǎ zéi
Directed by	Tian Zhuangzhuang
Produced by	Wu Tianming
Written by	Zhang Rui
Starring	Daiba Jiji Dan Drashi Gaoba Jamco Jayang Rigzin Tseshang
Music by	Qu Xiaosong
Cinematography	Hou Yong Zhao Fei
Edited by	Jingzhong Li
Production company	Xi'an Film Studio
Distributed by	International Film Circuit Les Films de l'Atalante
Release date	1986 (1986)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	China
Language	Mandarin Tibetan

Film director Martin Scorsese listed the film (which was not widely released in foreign countries until the early 1990s) as the number one film of the decade on the television show Roger Ebert & the Movies. Since Ebert's partner Gene Siskel was being honored that year in 1999, Ebert decidedly invited Scorsese as a special guest to share his top ten list. Scorsese commented that adding the film was slightly cheating as he wanted to pick a film from the 1980s to be his number one film for the 90s decade.[1] The Horse Thief was produced by the Xi'an Film Studio.

Plot

The film follows the titular horse thief, Norbu as he struggles to support his family in Tibet. After his son dies, however, Norbu strives to change his ways. At the end of the film, he decides to resort to stealing horses again to support his family. He is caught and tells his family to escape back to the village where they will be welcomed while he fends off the owner. He is eventually killed at the end of the movie, though the scene is not made visible. Mirroring the starkness of the landscape, the film is nearly free of dialogue, with only the occasional terse exchange between characters.

Cast

• Daiba as Granny
• Jiji Dan as Dolma, wife
• Drashi as Grandfather
• Gaoba as Nowre
• Jamco Jayang as Tashi, son
• Rigzin Tseshang as Norbu

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Horse Thief has an approval rating of 100% based on 9 reviews.[2] Derek Adams from the magazine Time Out gave the film a good review, stating: "It offers the most awesomely plausible account of Tibetan life and culture ever seen in the west. It's one of the few films whose images show you things you've never seen before."[3] Janet Maslin from The New York Times gave it three out of five stars, concluding: "The Chinese film The Horse Thief is best watched as pure spectacle, since it unfolds almost entirely without benefit of dialogue. What little talk there is tends to be plain and to the point (If only we had stew). However, from the scenic and ethnographic standpoints the film is often quite arresting."[4] Jonathan Rosenbaum writing for the Chicago Reader praising the film, saying: "Tian's originality and mastery of sound and image communicate directly, beyond the immediate trappings of the film's slender plot (a horse thief expelled from his clan) and regional culture (Buddhist death rituals), expressing an environmental and ecological mysticism that suggests a new relationship between man and nature. Tian had said that he made this for the 21st century, yet even today it's a film of the future."[5]

In 1988, The Horse Thief won the "Distribution Help Award" (tied with Yeelen) at the Fribourg International Film Festival.[6][7] In April 2019, a restored version of the film was selected to be shown in the Cannes Classics section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.[8]

References

1. Ebert & Roeper (2000-02-27), Best Films of the 90s, retrieved 2007-11-07
2. "Dao ma zei (The Horse Thief)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
3. Adams, Derek. "Horse Thief". Time Out. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
4. Maslin, Janet. "Film: 'The Horse Thief'". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
5. Rosenbaum, Jonathan. "The Horse Thief". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
6. "Fribourg International Film Festival - 1988". IMDB. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
7. "The Horse Thief". Mubi. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
8. "Cannes Classics 2019". Festival de Cannes. 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.

External links

• The Horse Thief on IMDb
• The Horse Thief at AllMovie
• The Horse Thief at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Horse Thief at the Chinese Movie Database