My only familiarity with this remote part of the world came from an interesting 2001 PBS special that Julia Roberts did on the horsemen of Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Apparently in their midst are nomadic families who raise sheep and camels for their daily livelihood. I have to admit it takes a while for this 2004 documentary to establish its purpose beyond its exotic setting, but once the drama begins to surface with a camel's rejection of her newborn baby, it becomes subtly, inextricably involving in spotlighting the true-life drama of the family's dilemma in trying to reconnect mother and child with the white calf's death the obvious outcome otherwise. Done in a way that reminds me of the fictionalized documentaries of Robert Flaherty I saw in college film class years ago ("Nanook of the North" and "Louisiana Story" among others), co-directors Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa take a similar approach in restaging the drama for the camera, and like Flaherty's work, it all feels authentic and respectful of the locals' way of life.
Living in clean, nicely decorated hut-like "yerts" on the scrub-filled plain, the four generations of the central family exist simply but with a strong sense of unspoken bonding and respect for the animals they raise. Rather than focusing on their isolation, the filmmakers show how the family is touched by the modern world, which crystallizes with the adventurous journey that the two boys, Dude and Ugna, take to a nearby village to retrieve a native musician to play a song of enlightenment to the mother camel. In one of the more lighthearted episodes, with a sly nod to Yasujiro Ozu's "Good Morning", the younger one is particularly taken with the television sets he encounters.
The scenes with the camels reflect the realism of a National Geographic special, no surprise since they are involved intimately in the production, with the birthing and the magical climax (which gives the film its title) particularly affecting. Most surprising is how the filmmakers make the seemingly mundane activities of the family glow with an uncontrived sense of warmth and poignancy. Special mention needs to go to Falorni's masterful camera-work. While it doesn't attain the magical depth of Luc Jacquet's "March of the Penguins", probably because some of the staging does make itself self-evident, this one is still definitely worth viewing. Other than a photo gallery, there are really no extras with the DVD package.
Living in clean, nicely decorated hut-like "yerts" on the scrub-filled plain, the four generations of the central family exist simply but with a strong sense of unspoken bonding and respect for the animals they raise. Rather than focusing on their isolation, the filmmakers show how the family is touched by the modern world, which crystallizes with the adventurous journey that the two boys, Dude and Ugna, take to a nearby village to retrieve a native musician to play a song of enlightenment to the mother camel. In one of the more lighthearted episodes, with a sly nod to Yasujiro Ozu's "Good Morning", the younger one is particularly taken with the television sets he encounters.
The scenes with the camels reflect the realism of a National Geographic special, no surprise since they are involved intimately in the production, with the birthing and the magical climax (which gives the film its title) particularly affecting. Most surprising is how the filmmakers make the seemingly mundane activities of the family glow with an uncontrived sense of warmth and poignancy. Special mention needs to go to Falorni's masterful camera-work. While it doesn't attain the magical depth of Luc Jacquet's "March of the Penguins", probably because some of the staging does make itself self-evident, this one is still definitely worth viewing. Other than a photo gallery, there are really no extras with the DVD package.