Film Reviews

Cave of the Yellow Dog

• Rating:
• Director: Byambasuren Davaa
• Starring: Batchuluun Urjindorj
• Details: Mongolia, 93mins, U.

If the idea of a film about a nomadic Mongolian family and the disagreement they have over a dog doesn't appeal to you, you would have been in like-minded company before the press screening this morning, but The Cave Of The Yellow Dog is a surprising delight. Granted it doesn't sound like a lot on paper (especially when her previous film was called The Story Of The Weeping Camel) but director Byambasuren Davaa has a unique way of dragging you into her story. When the father takes off for town to sell sheep skin, he leaves his wife and three children to tend to the goats and sheep. The eldest daughter, six-year-old Nansalmaa, goes on a wander and discovers a small dog cowering in a cave. She takes it home but when her father returns he wants the dog banished as he fears it was running with the wolves and may attract more attacks on his herd. Mixing documentary with fiction a la Robert J. Flaherty's Nanook Of The North, The Cave Of The Yellow Dog is shot using a real nomadic family who seem so comfortable in front of the camera; you'd swear they were professional actors. The three kids are the standout and Davaa lets her camera fall on them as often as possible; watching their antics and adventures would warm the cockles of even the hardest of misanthropes. The dialogue is sparse and unhelpful but then it's not really important in a film like this as Davaa trusts in character and the beautiful surroundings - she couldn't have made the landscape prettier if she tried - to tell her story.

Review by Gavin Burke