Ning Hao's film 'No Man Land' comes home to China after 3 years

Chinese director Ning Hao attends a news conference in Shenyang, Liaoning province on May 4, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

After facing the wrath of the government's film review board, director Ning Hao's road thriller, "No Man Land," is coming to China's theaters on December 3, over three and a half years after it was set to be released.

While originally finished in April 2010, "No Man Land" earned the ire of Zhao Baohua, member of the film review board of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), who alleged that the film was "trash" and its depiction of depraved individuals was not on a par with reality, adding that any film SARFT bans is also fit for a waste bin. Zhao Baohua also took a shot at Ning Hao directly, saying that the director had forgotten about the social responsibility of being an artist, adding that the gratuitous nature of the movie reflected his narcissism.

Ning Hao, who is busy shooting his new film in Yunnan province, has yet to respond to the news. However, actor and star of "No Man Land," Huang Bo, expressed his excitement for the film's Chinese debut by uploading an image of the movie's promotional poster on his microblogging Weibo account on October 14. Huang added that he will have a shaved head in the film and that he was "exchanging" hairstyles with fellow actor and "No Man Land" co-star, Xu Zheng who often acts in an image of being bald.

The film tells the story of the main character driving a car to the west and meeting up with various people and having different stories happening to him. Behind the story, audiences can see in-depth themes of man's nature of being a social animal.

The film revolves around a lawyer who heads west to the Gobi desert, navigating terrain as treacherous as the people he encounters.

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