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In the local school, the two boys find a music teacher who agrees to play the Mongolian violin—an instrument that's played like a cello but looks more like a banjo. Back at the steppe, the nomads gather for a worship ceremony to summon the blessing of the spirits, "remember that we are not the last generation on earth" and ask for forgiveness for their trespasses. The official faith of Mongolia is Tibetan Buddhist Lamaism, which dictates that people and animals live in harmony.

Ikhbayar Amgaabazar and Odgerel Ayusch

Once the violinist arrives from the village, the wooing of the mother camel begins. It is not surprising that the people who (along with their neighbors the Tuvans) brought us throat singing can harmonize so well with a haunting tune induced by a bow from two strings made from horse's tail. Odgoo's and the violin's concert is soon amplified by the moans of the mother camel, who bats her long eyelashes as she deliberates whether to give in to the herders' prayers and wishes. One waits with bated breath to see if indeed she will become the title's weeping camel, whether she will repent and right the wrong she had done, leaving her witnesses wanting to do the same.

Talk About It

1. Do you know anyone who has struggled with the idea of parenting—a young mother with post-partum depression, a woman who doesn't want to have children because career comes first, a man who leaves his wife or girlfriend after fathering a child? What legitimate and illegitimate motives lie at the core of their behavior? How is God unlike the parents who abandon their children?
   
   
2. Movies like The Story of the Weeping Camel remind us that the absence of modern trappings removes many temptations. When have you experienced simple living, without the distractions of a fast-paced Western culture? In those times, have you depended more on God than at other times, or has there been no difference? Why?
   
   
3. What part of the movie moved you the most? Could you identify with any of the characters in the film at the time?
   
   
4. The herders did not worship the Christian God. Do you think the one true God answered their prayers anyway? Or do you think the camel's softened heart was just a response to the soothing power of music?
   
   
5. Have you ever unjustifiably rejected a needy creature that depended on you—a human or animal? Has the Holy Spirit spoken to you about your action? Have you made up for it?

The Family Corner

This movie is likely to arrest—and rest—the eyes of adults and children who are used to much faster editing in what they see. They do have to be able to read subtitles, which are typed in a relatively large font and change at a fairly slow pace. The movie's content is pure. Some parents may decide that the labor scene, which shows the legs and head of the colt being born, may be difficult for younger children.

Photos © Copyright ThinkFilm

Last week, Film Forum featured reviews of The Story of the Weeping Camel. I have to lend my own applause to the roar of approval from other critics: This is one of the year's finest films. Unfortunately, the film is only playing in a few theatres around the country. If the camels come to your town, don't miss them.

Denny Wayman and Hal Conklin (Cinema in Focus) say, "It is difficult to imagine all that has been lost as we have moved from the quiet depth of agrarian life, but it is clear that the relationships between family members and between humans and their animals has been injured by the change to modern life. It is a lesson the 'weeping camel' helps us remember."

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