A documentary that plays like a fable, think MULAN/’98, or even NATIONAL VELVET/ ’44, as a young girl triumphs in a role traditionally reserved for men. And this time without gender disguise. Aisholpan Nurgaiv is a 13-yr-old Mongolian schoolgirl determined to continue the family line of hunting for game with trained eagles. With her father’s remarkable support, she already knows the basics, practicing with his hunting eagle before heading out to find a 3-month old eaglet of her own.* Mission accomplished, the next step is months of training and entry in the national eagle competition. The first ever female participant and the youngest. The last section, in the frozen mountains, is the eagle’s first hunt rite-of-passage, Aisholpan’s too. Thrilling stuff, top to bottom, beautifully realized on a wisp of a budget, yet looking like a major production from director Otto Bell largely thanks to Simon Niblett’s staggering cinematography. (Somewhere, David Lean wants to get his hands on a drone camera for a few aerial passes.) The story could use a bit more expansion/ explanation in the middle training/competition section, and it’s hard to think of anything that could top the initial rocky capture in the bird’s craggy lair. But there’s plenty of wonder in the whole fascinating story.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *This section also covers home & school where we see less tomboy and more gossipy, nail-painting 13-yr-old girlfriend and star student. Just a super kid!
DOUBLE-BILL: Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack’s GRASS: A Nation’s Battle to Survive/’25 is an early, thrilling documentary about a nomadic tribe in (then) Persia moving with their herds over snow-covered mountain passes on a twice-annual drive for grazing land.
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