AllMovie

Neophyte Chinese director Yu Guangyi kick-started his filmmaking career in 2004, when he returned to his native village of Heilongjiang (in northeast China and the former Manchuria), then decided to film his long, grueling winter in the nearby Changbai Mountains, working on a logging crew. The resultant documentary, Timber Gang, depicts many milestones over the course of the following year. Highlights include: Guangyi's torturous ascent to Black Bear Valley; the daily grind of men systematically reduced to beasts of burden, at 1,600 meters above sea level and sub-freezing temperatures that threaten to kill each worker; the use of a roughshod canteen temporarily set up and exploited by the men; and much more. The footage reflects the unrehearsed, laissez-faire approach characteristic of a first-time documentarist.