Kekexili: Mountain Patrol

This sober, gripping action drama uses the endangered Tibetan antelope’s vulnerability as the basis for a story about survival and conscience. Zhang Lei is the Beijing reporter who arrives at the freeezing plains of Kekexili to meet the self-appointed wardens fighting an uphill battle against organised poaching; he joins them on a patrol that offers the chance of nabbing the ringleader and the risk of disaster. Gratifyingly free of contrived character conflict, this achieves emotional impact through affecting individual performance and vividly applied ethical dilemmas about vigilantism and criminality. The locations are stunning and the local colour, from air burials to quicksand, vivid.