Wolf Totem by Jean-Jacques Annaud

Abstract

Contributor Caroline Eades focuses on Annaud’s adaptational dialogue with Jiang Rong’s (2004) novel by the same name to show the ways in which the famed director turns a deeply local story into a transnational film. Eades contends that Annaud achieves a more general perspective than a local story could by refusing to make any claims to historical accuracy or documentary objectivity. Eades demonstrates the ways that this transformation matches Annaud’s larger oeuvre, which often permits audiences to follow Annaud as he confronts realities from an independent, informed, and critical position. As it relates to Rong’s novel, Eades argues that Annaud sets aside his own political agenda to celebrate cinema’s independence from any political or material constraint. The story Annaud tells subsumes every element in the film. The result is an experience that dedicates itself to exposing the shortcomings of any representation of an unknown culture that depends on stereotypes and prejudice.