True Films 3.0 - Kevin Kelly

The Story of the
Weeping Camel
By Luigi Falorni and
Byambasuren Davaa
2004, 87 min.
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
A quasi-documentary about a family of camel shepherds in Mongolia.
The family almost loses a rare white camel colt because its mother
rejects it and won’t nurse the calf. Mom and child are re-united by means
of a special ritual conducted by a local violin player who serenades the
mother camel. Music cures what ails her. Mother camel weeps on film as
she finally suckles her newborn colt. Yeah, it’s odd and unusually haunting.
The story is held together by the family’s youngest boy. This unique
film is as minimal as the desert, as melancholy as the sweetest nomad
ballad, and as authentically detailed as a really fine hand-woven carpet
– which it is.
Warming up his instrument, the visiting musician plays a traditional tune in the family’s yurt between Grandma and
Grandfather (below). The white foal refuses to suckle (above).
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