The Horse Thief

Name: The Horse Thief
Genre: Drama
Released: 1986-01-01
Rating: 6.6

Drama1h 28m

🍅96%

🍅

96%

Tomatometer

🍿

75%

Popcornmeter

6.6

TMDB

Storyline

Devout Buddhists, Norbu and Dolma live with their young son Tashi in a clan in Tibet. Norbu is a highwayman. After Norbu is charged with stealing from the temple, he and his family are banished. Impoverished and marginalized, they can do little when their beloved son becomes ill. Tashi dies of a fever. After a second son is born, Norbu focuses his every action on keeping this child alive, seeking re-admission to the clan for his wife and child, then risking all to save them from isolation and starvation in winter.

Trailers

Details

DirectorTian Zhuangzhuang

ReleasedJan 1, 1986

StatusReleased

Original languageTibetan

Budget

Not disclosed

Revenue

Not disclosed

Parental guideNot rated

Studio

Xi'an Film Studio

Reviews

8 reviews · 7 critics

6 fresh · 1 rotten

Critics consensus

“Cinematographically breathtaking and narratively opaque, Horse Thief is less a digestible story than a sensory experience that provides a transporting glimpse into Tibetan history.”

96% TomatometerRotten Tomatoes

Alan Stanbrook

RTSight & SoundMay 20, 2022

The story is played like a litany or a medieval morality play. Shot after shot bears the hypnotic power of ceremony rather than drama.

Harper Barnes

RTSt. Louis Post-DispatchMay 20, 2022

A superbly filmed Chinese saga set in forbiddingly beautiful country in and around Tibet.

Derek Malcolm

RTGuardianMay 20, 2022

The film is slow and not above a certain ponderousness, but its visuals are so beautiful and its authenticity seems so thorough that one remains hooked from start to finish.

John Powers

RTL.A. WeeklyMay 20, 2022

Mystical, obscure and ineffably beautiful, Tian Zhuangzhuang's film is almost certainly the most alien movie that will play Los Angeles this year. Take that as a strong recommendation and an equally strong warning.