Delamu, Tian Zhuangzhuang's poignant, beautiful documentary about a place, a people, and a culture ceding to the inevitable encroachment of globalisation, takes its name from a mule called 'Peace', explains CALEB STARRENBURG.


Delamu is a Tibetan word meaning 'Peace', and the name of a hardy pack-mule in Tian Zhuangzhuang's poignant, beautiful documentary about a place, a people, and a culture ceding to the inevitable encroachment of globalisation.

Delamu accompanies a caravan, as it traverses the Tea Horse Route, the highest of China's ancient trading routes. Originating in southwestern China's Yunnan Province, the route ascends the Tibetan plateau, winding through the edges of the Himalayas into Nepal and leading into India and Western Asia.

The perilous and narrow route, passable only by horses and mules for two millennia, is witnessing the construction of paved roads and tourist amenities. Armed with high-definition cameras, so-called 'fifth generation' filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang (director of film festival favourites The Horse Thief, The Blue Kite and Springtime in a Small Town) sets out to document the indigenous cultures that populate the rapidly changing Tea Horse Route.

What's surprising about Delamu is its humanism. Although the film is filled with spectacular imagery, it is not enamoured by the beauty of the region. Tian, who demonstrates more concern for the people than the place, uses the terrain as a backdrop to the incredible endurance of the Tea Route's inhabitants.

Along the way Tian pauses to record interviews with the people he meets: a diverse cross section of ethnicities, cultures and religions. There is the Christian pastor from the Lisu tribe, who comments on the 'very white' foreign missionaries who have visited his village. We hear from a bigamous Tibetan who discusses the dynamics of marrying his brother's wife, and a young monk who argues with himself about the appeal of the fairer sex.

Interviews, candid and sincere, are mostly filmed indoors; balancing strikingly landscapes with low-key interiors. At one point Tian talks to a 104-year-old blind woman, who reveals her passion for her husband was so intense, when he was taken from her she cried herself sightless. A young teacher speaks of refusing a marriage proposal, because she did not love her suitor. A member of the caravan cries and prays for the sins of his mule when it is killed by falling rocks.

Tian's intimate observations represent the film's triumph; the revelation love can and does conquer incredible hardship (or am I overly idealistic?). In this sense Delamu is a film with universal relevance.

While this relatively narrative-free documentary might test the patience of the ADD-inclined, and those who like films with stuff that blows up (there is one explosion, although it isn't that impressive), Delamu is a breathtaking vision of a landscape and people rich in wonder.