Thomo's Hole

The Sydney Morning Herald Reviewed the Cave of the Yellow Dog in its Film Review Section this week.

I think it’s fair to assume that the dog itself comprehends Mongolian. For The Cave of the Yellow Dog comes from Munich-resident Mongolian director Byambasuren Davaa, who was nominated for an Oscar for her last film, The Story of the Weeping Camel, set among the nomadic families of the Mongolian steppes. She has returned to her homeland yet again and is hoping once more to use our sympathy for an appealing four-legged character to bridge the vast distances separating our TV-watching, supermarket-shopping existence from that of a people who regularly dismantle their houses, pack everything they own into half-a-dozen buffalo carts and move on to new pastures, where they contemplate doing it all over again.

I saw this film in Ulaanbaatar with my favourite Mongolian friend – we had seen the Story of the Weeping Camel in Ulaanbaatar as well. I can agree with the review – the movie takes its time developing the story but this is well offset by the beauty of the film itself. Actually, even the slow development of the story in the film really is in keeping with the countryside of Mongolia where the only two things that move quickly are the summer (gone in a couple of months) and the wind.

The Mongolian countryside is quite as beautiful as it seems in the movie. The countryside folk are also as down to earth as they appear in the movie.

Thomo certainly recommends watching it, it is an interesting insight into a lifestyle that still exists but is starting to die out.

Oh, and for the reference of the reviewer, the Mongolian portable countryside house is a ger.

The picture from the film shows the doorway to the ger (they all face south). The second picture is from within a ger where my jeans are being repaired on a manual sewing machine.

See the movie, it’s worth it.

We saw it way back last year in Mongolia.