THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL (2004)

Cast

Plot

Based on an educational movie that Byambasuren Davaa saw as a child, The Story of a Weeping Camel traces the efforts of a family of herders to goad and cajole a mother camel into accepting her rejected newborn. As hope begins to fade, a last ditch attempt finds two of the youngest family members crossing the sandstorm-swept Gobi desert in search of a music professor who, it is hoped, will perform an ancient musical ritual to sooth the troubled beast. Without a central character, and with a narrative that seems to evolve rather than being driven, you could be forgiven for thinking that this was a documentary – a stylistic feature which enforces the timeless scenes that are played out in the aching reeded winds of the endless desert. A beautiful, magical tale.