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In Mountain Patrol (Kekexili), director Lu Chuan gives us a fictionalised account of the real-life volunteer team who in the 90s patrolled China's huge, and sparsely beautiful, Kekexili nature reserve, fighting a running battle against armed poachers. Two standout performances - Duo Bujie as the battle-hardened patrol leader Ri Tai, and Zhang Lei as Ga Yu, the naive journalist sent to follow him - combine with masterful narrative economy to make this a compelling story, told at breakneck speed.

Hunting the Tibetan antelope was made illegal in the 70s; but 20 years later poachers who prized the animal's luxurious wool had sent it perilously close to extinction. Beijing reporter Ga Yu is our way into the story, here; no sooner has he arrived than we are riding out into the plains, and witness to the discovery of hundreds of antelope carcases. But when Ri Tai's team capture a shambolic group of poachers they know the gunmen are still at large; to find them they must risk their lives and press further into the inhospitable Kekexili.

"ACTION IS UNRELENTING"

Lu Chuan's sweeping shots of the bleak Tibetan plateau fill this movie with menace and endless, ice-frozen beauty; meanwhile the action - gun point chases, death by quicksand, life-or-death moral dilemmas - is unrelenting. Zhang shines as wide-eyed journalist Ga Yu, and the compulsion-factor only increases when team member Liu Dong (Qi Liang) is sent on a perilous mission back to base. But it’s the obsessed, morally-flawed patrol leader Ri Tai who is the heart of this movie; a fascinating character brought to life with electrifying verve by Duo. That performance, like this movie, is a marvel.

In Mandarin with English subtitles.