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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