Dir. Byambasuren Davaa, 2005, Germany/Mongolia, 93 mins
Cast: Babbayar Batchuluun, Nansal Batchuluun, Nansalmaa Batchuluun, Buyandulam Daramdadi
Review by Peter Fraser
A German-Mongolian co-production from the co-director and co-writer of The Story of the Weeping Camel, The Cave of the Yellow Dog is a cross between a documentary somewhat reminiscent of classic ethnographical films and a fictional film that, were it not for the authenticity of its setting, might seem derivative of the American Lassie pictures.
Like The Story of the Weeping Camel, The Cave of the Yellow Dog focuses on an actual family of nomadic Mongolian shepherds but this time takes place in the environs of their real-life homestead in the Mongolian veld rather than in the Gobi Desert. It remains an unforgiving environment far removed from that to which anyone reading this is likely to be accustomed. The sheep are the family’s livelihood and therefore their most precious possession, so when little girl Nansel comes home one day with a dog that she has found in a cave while out collecting dung, there is some controversy between her parents.
Nansal has just returned home from school for the summer and the family frequently make reference to the town that her father Batchuluun visits to trade sheepskins, which also symbolises the changing times in which the family live and which threaten their lifestyle. While Nansel’s mother is willing to welcome the dog, Batchuluun refuses because he fears that wolves may follow its trail and attack the family’s herd of sheep.
So it’s a docudrama and as such potentially has the benefits of both the documentary (authenticity, ethnographic and anthropological interest, among other things) and the fictional film (narrative, characters, thematic contrivances, among other things). On the other hand, the film could, perhaps more likely, be seen as the worst of both worlds with the documentary undermining the drama and vice versa. Fortunately in this case, although Davaa is open to the accusation of idealising the family in a way that would be more jarring in a documentary, the worst does not happen. That’s because the story itself is slight, unpretentious and undemonstrative and there is much to enjoy in the unaffected performances of the family playing themselves and the bleak beauty of the landscape.
Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, there is the Lassie archetype to contend with. While the dog in question does not attempt extraordinary feats of doggy daring-do, rescuing luckless children from mine shafts and the like, it does play a saving role in a drama involving the family’s youngest child. Interestingly, however, this has a spiritual dimension. Nansel’s grandmother teaches her about reincarnation - the way in which souls are considered to travel from one life form to another - so that when the dog finally performs its ‘heroic’ act, it becomes apparent to Nansel’s father that it has a good soul.
Lassie, eat your heart out. The Cave of the Yellow Dog avoids easy sentimentality, and, while the story is fairly affecting, it never seems overly cute, except perhaps in the portrayal of the children, where it can be reductive and patronising. The most interesting sequences for this reviewer were those that show how the family live and, particularly, how they dismantle their tent-like home when they decide to move. Those less interested in dogs and more in humans may wish for more like this, and more context, but the unhurried pace and extraordinary vistas certainly provide a soothing balm for weary eyes.
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