Return to the Wolves (2017)

If not friend, why friend shaped?

This film captures the joys and sorrows of parenting when it comes to raising a special needs child. The "child" in this case is in fact a wolf that was saved as a pup. Realizing the best thing for the wolf is not raising him in the city, Li Weiyi temporarily moves to a prairie/protected sanctuary in order to rehabilitate this wolf back into wildlife, something that had not been done before. There are plenty of proud mama moments, such as teaching the wolf how to hunt and seeing just how smart he is. The biggest proud mama moment is, of course, teaching him to return to the wolves. There are a few minor flaws in the form of chaotic editing (although it was mostly chaotic good). It was filmed by an amateur director. Some scenes were probably reenacted. However, it's still very impressive considering the first few months of the story were all cut from home video footage. Also, there are some gorgeous scenic shots. Occasionally, the dialogue sounded fake or scripted. It doesn't follow the usual documentary format, so I'm hesitant to call it one. Anyway, I don't know about you, but I could watch cat and dog videos all day long. This was time well spent. No one asked, but I absolutely cried.

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If there is one less wolf out there, does it really matter?

I am fully aware that i am a very cynical person, but my cynicism is not unwarranted in this regard as the world is an unkind place to the mute, the wordless. I started this with a wariness in my mind that this could turn out to be yet another insincere effort of a human glorifying their own deeds.

And I was very, very wrong. Every moment of this, from when Li Weiyi searches for and encounters the pup till the credits roll in, each moment is a testimony to a beautiful bond between them.

Save him first, Li Weiyi says to us. She does not have reasons to offer to support her decision for bringing a wild wolf into the city. All she knew was that she had to save this little life who lost every happiness because of humans. For a while things do go well as Green, the wolf, grows into a strong boy. But it is soon understood that his place is not in the city.

So where can he go? What place promises a safe sanctuary for a wolf in today's world, wonders Li Weiyi as she looks through the glass at a large alpha, the kids beside her banging their hands at the wall to provoke the captive wolf.

This is not so much a story of a wolf returning to the wild. It is about finding a safe abode for the wolf, for it is not the wild that Li Weiyi is afraid of.

In his short story No Room for a Leopard, Ruskin Bond asks, “But did the leopard, trusting one man, make the mistake of trusting others?"

Li Weiyi is afraid of the humans who encroach upon the wild with sinister intentions. As she runs her hands through a cloak made of wolf fur, she can only see the eyes of her own son. The wolf who having been brought up by humans, has forgotten the fear of humans that has been ingrained so deep in others of his species that even the pups stay away.

Return to the Wolves is a call for the establishment of China's first wolf sanctuary. It offers a tender look into the wildlife of the vast Zoige prairie, and the diverse beauty that co-exists there. When I look at places like this, i just hope that no human can ever find their way there. I loved how they showed Green in his wolfish wild nature; Li Weiyi tells us too look at the him and says we humans are more cruel than the wolf who hunts an animal in the wild.

This "review" hasn't been much of a review (in my opinion) as a statement of how touched I have been by this documentary. In terms of production values, it is a linear straightforward narration with the occassional voiceover to supplement the story at times. Li Weiyi and Yi Feng have an eye for scenic beauty, and they incorporated beautiful shots of the prairie and the mountains that was supposed to be the new home of their beloved child.

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I wish to narrate a rather personal experience of mine. It was in the monsoon. the flood season was almost upon us and with that, it was the season of dog mating. Pups were being born, each with a predetermined ill fate: they would either be washed away or they would get crushed by a car, and if they made it so far, they would die of hunger or live to suffer their whole life.

Six such pups, a litter, was born behind our house.

The rains came and my mother and I set up a small bamboo shelter for them. But as the rained poured harder, we knew they would die. Ours is a small household, we were two kids and our father was away. We already housed many cats. Despite this, my mother brought these pups into our basement. I tried to be a voice of reason, who would keep them in their adulthood? My mother calmly said, let them live first.

So when Li Weiyi says "it doesn't matter whether it's right or wrong if you save him. don't let him die." It reminds me of this moment. How many humans would rather turn a blind eye? And does it really matter if there is one less wolf out there?

If there is a god, they are there in humans like Li Weiyi, in people who through seemingly small and large acts of kindness and love, multiply the beauty in this world several folds. Maybe people don't care, and most people don't, but what is the meaning of humanity if we kill innocent lives for self-serving reasons or if we have never gone out of our way to be kind even once.

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