The Story of the Weeping Camel

Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni, Germany, 2003 (8.9*)

This German documentary follows a family of Mongolian shepherds' daily lives. After the camel birthing season, the last newborn colt, a pretty white boy, is rejected by his mother. The shepherd sends his two sons on a trip to a nearby town to find a healing musician to help the mother accept her offspring.

We follow the daily life of the shepherds, which is primitive and weather-beaten in the harsh, beautiful Gobi desert, yet they also have total freedom. They can simply move their animals to another location if they want and be elsewhere in a day. In the towns, satellite tv is available and many ride motorcycles rather than camels, so the modern world is there if they want it - they chose to continue to live simply.

This is a beautiful and unusual story in a beautiful setting, even more amazing since it's a documentary - we follow the story of the young rejected camel, played by Botok with Ingen Tenne as the mother camel, as it plays out for the shepherds. This story that seems a much legend as truth won several film festivals, usually the audience award for foreign film, and was an Oscar nominee for documentary. Awards page at IMDB