They say in movies, you should never work with animals or children. Thankfully, "Cave of the Yellow Dog" doesn´t follow that rule. Thus, we are awarded with a heartwarming tale of a girl and her dog. At the same time, the film provides us with an in-depth look at a way of life that many are not familiar with.
The film comes to us from filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa transplanted from Mongolia to Germany, where she studied film and currently works. Davaa gained notice from her first feature-film, the documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel" which was influenced by Robert Flaherty´s "Nanook of the North" and followed the lives of people living in the rural fields of Mongolia. "Weeping Camel" was nominated for an Oscar, an impressive achievement made more so by the fact that it was done as part of her graduate thesis. I´ve seen plenty of student films that aren´t even close to award-worthy.
With "Yellow Dog", Davaa returns to the same subject matter of "Weeping Camel" by following the everyday lives of a family living in the countryside of Mongolia far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The family live in a large tent called a yurt, roughly the equivalent of a mobile home. They tend to their sheep and when it´s time to move on to new grazing land, they pack up their belongings and move on.
One day, the eldest daughter Nansal (Nansal Batchuluun) is sent out to collect dung. While performing her task, she comes across a little dog all alone inside a cave. Naturally, Nansal takes the dog home with her and names him Zochor. The mother doesn´t seem to mind, but Nansal´s father is none too pleased. Fearing the dog may have been raised by wolves and could be dangerous, he tells Nansal to get rid of him. In the end, Zochor proves that he can follow in the paw prints of Lassie or Benji when he comes to the rescue of the family´s missing son.
The main storyline is simply a thin thread. The main meat of the film comes from the pseudo-documentary feel that allows the audience to observe the lives of this family. These aren´t actors, but real people that were discovered by the director. No script, other than a general guideline, was written. These people really live like this and Davaa allows the camera to linger to capture it all. At one point, young Nansal is sent off to watch the sheep. It´s quite a site to watch this diminutive girl riding across the vast plains on a horse that´s ten times bigger than she is. Even the dog isn´t an actor. He isn´t a trained animal, just a stray mutt they found.
Concurrently, "Yellow Dog" deals with the encroaching influence of modern city life. The city never makes an appearance in the film, but its influence can be seen in many scenes. One child remarks in amazement to her mother about how people in the city "pee inside." Another scene finds the father returning home with gifts for the family, such as a plastic ladle and a battery-operated toy dog. When the ladle melts in the cooking pot, Nansal turns it into a bowl for Zochor. Davaa never argues against the urbanization of this nomadic way of life nor does she ever call for it to be preserved. She just presents it for what it is.
The film comes to us from filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa transplanted from Mongolia to Germany, where she studied film and currently works. Davaa gained notice from her first feature-film, the documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel" which was influenced by Robert Flaherty´s "Nanook of the North" and followed the lives of people living in the rural fields of Mongolia. "Weeping Camel" was nominated for an Oscar, an impressive achievement made more so by the fact that it was done as part of her graduate thesis. I´ve seen plenty of student films that aren´t even close to award-worthy.
With "Yellow Dog", Davaa returns to the same subject matter of "Weeping Camel" by following the everyday lives of a family living in the countryside of Mongolia far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The family live in a large tent called a yurt, roughly the equivalent of a mobile home. They tend to their sheep and when it´s time to move on to new grazing land, they pack up their belongings and move on.
One day, the eldest daughter Nansal (Nansal Batchuluun) is sent out to collect dung. While performing her task, she comes across a little dog all alone inside a cave. Naturally, Nansal takes the dog home with her and names him Zochor. The mother doesn´t seem to mind, but Nansal´s father is none too pleased. Fearing the dog may have been raised by wolves and could be dangerous, he tells Nansal to get rid of him. In the end, Zochor proves that he can follow in the paw prints of Lassie or Benji when he comes to the rescue of the family´s missing son.
The main storyline is simply a thin thread. The main meat of the film comes from the pseudo-documentary feel that allows the audience to observe the lives of this family. These aren´t actors, but real people that were discovered by the director. No script, other than a general guideline, was written. These people really live like this and Davaa allows the camera to linger to capture it all. At one point, young Nansal is sent off to watch the sheep. It´s quite a site to watch this diminutive girl riding across the vast plains on a horse that´s ten times bigger than she is. Even the dog isn´t an actor. He isn´t a trained animal, just a stray mutt they found.
Concurrently, "Yellow Dog" deals with the encroaching influence of modern city life. The city never makes an appearance in the film, but its influence can be seen in many scenes. One child remarks in amazement to her mother about how people in the city "pee inside." Another scene finds the father returning home with gifts for the family, such as a plastic ladle and a battery-operated toy dog. When the ladle melts in the cooking pot, Nansal turns it into a bowl for Zochor. Davaa never argues against the urbanization of this nomadic way of life nor does she ever call for it to be preserved. She just presents it for what it is.
They say in movies, you should never work with animals or children. Thankfully, "Cave of the Yellow Dog" doesn´t follow that rule. Thus, we are awarded with a heartwarming tale of a girl and her dog. At the same time, the film provides us with an in-depth look at a way of life that many are not familiar with.
The film comes to us from filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa transplanted from Mongolia to Germany, where she studied film and currently works. Davaa gained notice from her first feature-film, the documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel" which was influenced by Robert Flaherty´s "Nanook of the North" and followed the lives of people living in the rural fields of Mongolia. "Weeping Camel" was nominated for an Oscar, an impressive achievement made more so by the fact that it was done as part of her graduate thesis. I´ve seen plenty of student films that aren´t even close to award-worthy.
With "Yellow Dog", Davaa returns to the same subject matter of "Weeping Camel" by following the everyday lives of a family living in the countryside of Mongolia far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The family live in a large tent called a yurt, roughly the equivalent of a mobile home. They tend to their sheep and when it´s time to move on to new grazing land, they pack up their belongings and move on.
One day, the eldest daughter Nansal (Nansal Batchuluun) is sent out to collect dung. While performing her task, she comes across a little dog all alone inside a cave. Naturally, Nansal takes the dog home with her and names him Zochor. The mother doesn´t seem to mind, but Nansal´s father is none too pleased. Fearing the dog may have been raised by wolves and could be dangerous, he tells Nansal to get rid of him. In the end, Zochor proves that he can follow in the paw prints of Lassie or Benji when he comes to the rescue of the family´s missing son.
The main storyline is simply a thin thread. The main meat of the film comes from the pseudo-documentary feel that allows the audience to observe the lives of this family. These aren´t actors, but real people that were discovered by the director. No script, other than a general guideline, was written. These people really live like this and Davaa allows the camera to linger to capture it all. At one point, young Nansal is sent off to watch the sheep. It´s quite a site to watch this diminutive girl riding across the vast plains on a horse that´s ten times bigger than she is. Even the dog isn´t an actor. He isn´t a trained animal, just a stray mutt they found.
Concurrently, "Yellow Dog" deals with the encroaching influence of modern city life. The city never makes an appearance in the film, but its influence can be seen in many scenes. One child remarks in amazement to her mother about how people in the city "pee inside." Another scene finds the father returning home with gifts for the family, such as a plastic ladle and a battery-operated toy dog. When the ladle melts in the cooking pot, Nansal turns it into a bowl for Zochor. Davaa never argues against the urbanization of this nomadic way of life nor does she ever call for it to be preserved. She just presents it for what it is.
The film comes to us from filmmaker Byambasuren Davaa transplanted from Mongolia to Germany, where she studied film and currently works. Davaa gained notice from her first feature-film, the documentary "The Story of the Weeping Camel" which was influenced by Robert Flaherty´s "Nanook of the North" and followed the lives of people living in the rural fields of Mongolia. "Weeping Camel" was nominated for an Oscar, an impressive achievement made more so by the fact that it was done as part of her graduate thesis. I´ve seen plenty of student films that aren´t even close to award-worthy.
With "Yellow Dog", Davaa returns to the same subject matter of "Weeping Camel" by following the everyday lives of a family living in the countryside of Mongolia far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The family live in a large tent called a yurt, roughly the equivalent of a mobile home. They tend to their sheep and when it´s time to move on to new grazing land, they pack up their belongings and move on.
One day, the eldest daughter Nansal (Nansal Batchuluun) is sent out to collect dung. While performing her task, she comes across a little dog all alone inside a cave. Naturally, Nansal takes the dog home with her and names him Zochor. The mother doesn´t seem to mind, but Nansal´s father is none too pleased. Fearing the dog may have been raised by wolves and could be dangerous, he tells Nansal to get rid of him. In the end, Zochor proves that he can follow in the paw prints of Lassie or Benji when he comes to the rescue of the family´s missing son.
The main storyline is simply a thin thread. The main meat of the film comes from the pseudo-documentary feel that allows the audience to observe the lives of this family. These aren´t actors, but real people that were discovered by the director. No script, other than a general guideline, was written. These people really live like this and Davaa allows the camera to linger to capture it all. At one point, young Nansal is sent off to watch the sheep. It´s quite a site to watch this diminutive girl riding across the vast plains on a horse that´s ten times bigger than she is. Even the dog isn´t an actor. He isn´t a trained animal, just a stray mutt they found.
Concurrently, "Yellow Dog" deals with the encroaching influence of modern city life. The city never makes an appearance in the film, but its influence can be seen in many scenes. One child remarks in amazement to her mother about how people in the city "pee inside." Another scene finds the father returning home with gifts for the family, such as a plastic ladle and a battery-operated toy dog. When the ladle melts in the cooking pot, Nansal turns it into a bowl for Zochor. Davaa never argues against the urbanization of this nomadic way of life nor does she ever call for it to be preserved. She just presents it for what it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment