China Synopsis
盗马贼
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.
Other Titles From Xi'an Film Studio
The 2018–2020 China Window
The Horse Thief holds position #145 of 219 China films in the 2018–2020 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2010s China Landscape
2019 was the decade’s peak output year for China — 86 titles released, including The Horse Thief. Bars below show how the 2010s stacked up year by year (515 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 85 other China films in 2019.
The 661st China title from China we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1935).
Our China catalog contains 946 titles in total (747 films).
Audience Engagement
27 audience reviews — more than 48% of China films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 25th percentile among China films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on The Horse Thief, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- horse · 4
- tibet · 4
- tibetan · 1
- thief · 23
- chinese · 17
- himalaya mountain range · 6
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #523 of 946 China films indexed here (45th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among China Drama productions specifically: #329 of 547 (top 60%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | China |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Chinese |
| Spoken Languages | Mandarin, Tibetan |
| Production Companies | Xi'an Film Studio |
| Runtime | 1h 28m |
| Release Date | March 19, 2019 |
| IMDb | tt0090907 |