Anyone for a slice of Mongolia?
October 28th 2006 13:24
I went to see The Cave of the Yellow Dog the other day with my mother. I should probably thank National Geographic Explorer’s Club for my free tickets. The Cave of the Yellow Dog is a beautiful movie set in Mongolia. Those of you who already know me will be reasonably familiar with my slight obsession with Mongolia and the Mongolian conquest of the 14th century. It’s true. I’m obsessed. But it’s so difficult to find any kind of outlet for this obsession. I mean, how many movies are set in Mongolia? How many books are set in Mongolia? And, in all honesty, how many history altering events have occurred in Mongolia?
Very few.
So it’s so refreshing to have a new film maker on the scene who not only shoots movies about Mongolia, she is Mongolian and so adds a wonderfully personal element to the stories she films. Byambasuren Davaa first shot to ‘fame’ when The Story of the Weeping Camel took the western world by storm. Or should I say, slowly infiltrated the west and made them cry with the absolute joy and simplicity of the story of a white camel rejected by its mother. Who would have thought that such a simple story could be so slow, so moving, so beautiful and still be nominated for an Academy Award? Luckily, it’s not just blockbusters that impress and so this wonderful movie came to the attention of many people in the West.
The Cave of the Yellow Dog is not, in my opinion, as good. But for me it’s not about the quality of the movie but the story it tells, not just about the eponymous Yellow Dog but the story of the Mongolian way of life. There were so many things I loved about Yellow Dog, but what I loved the most was seeing the Mongolian way of life up close and personal. In The Weeping Camel, we see the dichotomy many traditional nomads face: to move to the city or maintain their traditional way of life? We see the introduction of television, the allure of the big city, the introduction of major sporting labels into the clothing selection of the main characters. That’s not even remotely what the movie itself is about, but I loved the subtle introduction of these themes into the main story.
With Yellow Dog, it’s all about the nomadic way of life. Very little impinges on this. We see the motorbike the father rides, and we see the daughter, Nansal, coming back from school in modern clothes but immediately changing into the traditional deel. Only one other time does the modern world come into the movie, when Nansal’s father goes away to town and brings his wife back a green plastic ladle to replace her broken steel and wooden one. This, however, quickly gets destroyed and we see the father patiently repairing the old ladle.
The movie itself is slow and if you’re a movie buff I would recommend watching The Story of the Weeping Camel, a far superior movie. If you like a good blockbuster action movie, I would recommend you steer well clear of both these movies. But if you’re interested in learning more about a vanishing way of life, about some of the last true nomads, the descendents of my favourite historical character Genghis Khan, these two movies are (to the best of my knowledge) one of the only places you can turn. You could do worse than spending a couple of lazy hours with these two movies, discovering this beautiful world.
Very few.
So it’s so refreshing to have a new film maker on the scene who not only shoots movies about Mongolia, she is Mongolian and so adds a wonderfully personal element to the stories she films. Byambasuren Davaa first shot to ‘fame’ when The Story of the Weeping Camel took the western world by storm. Or should I say, slowly infiltrated the west and made them cry with the absolute joy and simplicity of the story of a white camel rejected by its mother. Who would have thought that such a simple story could be so slow, so moving, so beautiful and still be nominated for an Academy Award? Luckily, it’s not just blockbusters that impress and so this wonderful movie came to the attention of many people in the West.
The Cave of the Yellow Dog is not, in my opinion, as good. But for me it’s not about the quality of the movie but the story it tells, not just about the eponymous Yellow Dog but the story of the Mongolian way of life. There were so many things I loved about Yellow Dog, but what I loved the most was seeing the Mongolian way of life up close and personal. In The Weeping Camel, we see the dichotomy many traditional nomads face: to move to the city or maintain their traditional way of life? We see the introduction of television, the allure of the big city, the introduction of major sporting labels into the clothing selection of the main characters. That’s not even remotely what the movie itself is about, but I loved the subtle introduction of these themes into the main story.
With Yellow Dog, it’s all about the nomadic way of life. Very little impinges on this. We see the motorbike the father rides, and we see the daughter, Nansal, coming back from school in modern clothes but immediately changing into the traditional deel. Only one other time does the modern world come into the movie, when Nansal’s father goes away to town and brings his wife back a green plastic ladle to replace her broken steel and wooden one. This, however, quickly gets destroyed and we see the father patiently repairing the old ladle.
The movie itself is slow and if you’re a movie buff I would recommend watching The Story of the Weeping Camel, a far superior movie. If you like a good blockbuster action movie, I would recommend you steer well clear of both these movies. But if you’re interested in learning more about a vanishing way of life, about some of the last true nomads, the descendents of my favourite historical character Genghis Khan, these two movies are (to the best of my knowledge) one of the only places you can turn. You could do worse than spending a couple of lazy hours with these two movies, discovering this beautiful world.
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Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I also won tickets to see the film from National Geographic and wrote about it in my blog a little while ago. It's great to hear someone else's opinion on it, your review was really interesting. I also have a similar fascination with Mongolia. Like you said, how many films do we see from that part of the world, I would love to see more. I would love to go there in fact.
I haven't seen Weeping Camel and I can imagine that it is better than this film, but it really was a film of viewing and enjoying landscapes and a different culture. That was fascinating to me and I relished it.
Tracy
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
Yay! Another Mongolian buff. I've been there, but only really briefly, during one of my stays in China. And I visited Inner Mongolia. It's Outer Mongolia I'd love to visit and spend some time.
I highly recommend The Story of the Weeping Camel. If you enjoyed The Cave of the Yellow Dog you'll definitely like this.
I also recommend a fantastic book by Stanley Stewart called "In the Empire of Genghis Khan". Bloody great read.
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Thanks for telling me about the Stanley Stewart book, I'll read that after I finish uni (a lot of things are happing after uni finishes...the first will be some sleep).
That's fantastic you've been to Inner Mongolia, how long did you go for? I would love to go anywhere around that area, I'm so fascinated with it. Do you think you'll visit Outer Mongolia soon?
Bye
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
Unfortunately it was a very brief stopover in Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. We were there perhaps a couple of days. It really is only another big Chinese city, and doesn't really have a very "Mongolian" feel to it. We were on our way back from a trip on the Silk Road and couldn't get back directly so we had to take some pretty serious detours in order to get back to Beijing in time for my friend to go back to the States.
I don't think I'll get to Outer Mongolia any time soon, although the more I talk about it the more I think this will probably be something I'll add on to my trip to Beijing in 2008 (for the Olympics and the Paralympics.) Probably need to be before the Olympics, given that it will be starting to turn cold over there at that time of year.
Ooh, now I'm excited at the thought ...
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I realised that for all my yearnings to travel to the area, I really didn't know that much about it, so I just did some reading and looked at maps. I looked up Hohhot, it was described much as you said, basically a big Chinese city. But at least you went and got a feel for the two countries. I've never been to China either and that would be exciting, but Mongolia is much more alluring as it's so different. What did you think of Beijing? That's fantastic you are going for the Olympics and the Paralympics in 2008.
Ooh, the travel bug is kicking in again.....
Comment by KarenC
Genghis Gal
By the sounds of you and your desire to get to Mongolia, the places I would recommend in China:
I would suggest a brief stopover in Beijing on the way out west to either Sichuan, Tibet or Xinjiang. Sichuan is a wonderful place, with lots of Tibetan villages scattered around, as well as a great panda breeding centre and plenty of untouched wilderness. I haven't been to Tibet, but it would be pretty amazing.
And Xinjiang - well, it's one of my all time favourtie places in the entire world. It's like stepping back in time to when the early Italian trade routes had just opened up. There are Pakistani traders, Uighur carpet sellers, Kazakh tribesmen, Tajik herdsmen ... an amazing mix of cultures and goods all relatively untouched by western tourism (at least it was about 12 years ago when I was there). It's very difficult to get to and all of the towns are vast distances from each other, so it's pretty hard going travelling around. But it's worth it. We stayed in a Kazakh yurt and rode feisty little horses into the alpine wilderness that's in the middle of a vast desert. The geography is amazing, the people are kind and warm, and the history is incredible.
Book suggestion: Foreign Devils on the Silk Road by Peter Hopkins for a bit of insight into this part of the world.
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Thanks for telling me all that. Beijing sounds very exciting, I would love a trip to any of those parts of the world. Hopefully one day soon. That's fantastic that you spent a year there, you would have really got an indepth feel for the country, more than just travelling, what an experience. Sichuan sounds amazing....like nothing I've seen before...aahh. Thanks again.
Tracy