The Journey to the Western Xia

The directorial debut of Lu Wei, who scripted Farewell My Concubine, is another historical drama, this time set in the 11th century. A group of warlike 'tax-collectors' from the Tangut tribe in the province of Xixia forcibly take ten boys from a defenceless Chinese village as their tithe; when one of the infants disappears, the leader abducts a pregnant woman to avert the Emperor's wrath. But the cost of duty is high. Making splendid use of the north western landscapes (though the camerawork is raw and gutsy rather than abstract and picturesque), this is a vigorous if slightly predictable tale of barbarism modified by respect, sympathy and suffering.