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Clip description
Lee Pearson (Radha Mitchell) warns George Hogg (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) of a tornado coming towards them across the desert. He and some of the boys are changing a tyre on one of the trucks they have borrowed for the final part of the journey. Everyone takes cover from the sand and Hogg narrowly escapes serious injury when the propped-up truck crashes down.
The tornado is ferocious but short-lived. They set off again across the vast desert. The appearance of a long camel train and dozens of men on horseback adds to the buoyant mood. After many months they finally reach their destination, Shandan, where a motorcyclist escorts them into the walled city.
Curator’s notes
Children of the Silk Road is filmmaking on a big scale. It features extraordinary landscapes, including the Gobi Desert shown here, scenes involving hundreds of extras and four actors known on the international stage (Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh).
The music both adds to the epic nature of the film and guides the audience towards what they should be feeling. In this scene, for example, a line of men on horseback appearing over the sand dunes could be highly threatening but the music indicates that they are not a danger to Lee, Hogg and the 60 or so boys in their care.
