|  The
Story of the Weeping Camel
Directed by:
Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni
Narrative
Documentary
Bluntly speaking?
There's a new style of film eking into the film biz called "Narrative Documentary."
What? That is an absurd oxymoron you tutt-tutt silently as you read… Well,
yes and no. The new fandangled term describes a documentary that has been "embellished"
with narrative scenes to ultimately create the arc-drama one finds in a feature
film with the intelligence of a documentary. And narrative
documentary is truly an appropriate expression for this wonderfully unique and
intriguing little gem, The Story of the Weeping Camel. SoftWC
is a fairly simple tale of a camel, that after a grueling birthing of her albino
calf, decides she's not interested in the ideas of motherhood and abandons the
newborn, leaving it to fend for itself. Sounds
positively dull until you start to watch this young mother and the footage
the filmmakers gathered. Quickly you are pulled in - mesmerized - "How
did the film crew get this?" pops to mind - immediately. It
feels like a documentary and looks like a documentary, but there's all this narrative
story obviously running along side the remarkable footage...it is then you realize
it is a scripted, storyboarded, and cast film, a team behind the lens have planned
out. Amazing. The
star of the film, a rather doe-eyed camel with a pinch of attitude, seems aware
of her close-up and gives directors Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni an Oscar©
caliber performance…deep, soulful and layered. Of course that's due to the
clever angles and editing of these two film makers - or is it? Hehe. The
story takes us to Mongolia, into a nomad herder's home during the herd's birthing
season. We'll meet the hardworking family from the Gobi Desert and watch them
deal with a situation, which could be lethal for a newborn camel. The
lengths the isolated family goes to assist the unloved newborn is heart warming.
Whether you're a big animal person or not, you will feel for this animal immediately.
This is not about losing a commodity for them, it's about helping a new life to
succeed. As the situation gets grave, we are privy to their relatively quirky
decisions for dealing with the dilemmas as well as the deep felt respect for life,
of any kind, these nomads have. The
family, having exhausted their own attempts at a mother and child reunion, calls
in the local town's (which is three days away) maestro to play a concert for the
camel mother. It is a ritual hundreds of years old and taken very seriously. They
believe the life of the camel calf depends upon its success. The maestro will
play a solemn tune for a few hours in hopes of penetrating the mother camel's
heart, via the calculated notes, and filling it with love for the unwanted calf.
Fighting like an exorcist's patient, the mother camel is held into place
for the concert with restraints of iron, as the warmthening begins. By
now you're also awaiting the ritual's results with a shortness of breath; will
she come around and take to this poor little creature before it's too late? Sniff! The
Story of the Weeping Camel provides a universal message of how we all need
love to survive delicately laced into the tale of a sad little camel. The film
captures your imagination as you explore this vast tundra and glimpse into a moment
of tradition for its legendary nomads. This is a delightful honestly fascinating
piece of work. Snack
recommendation: Mongolian Stew and goat's milk
| 
