100
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Blurring all the lines between fiction and documentary, this gentle and amusing movie blends real, unrehearsed material with delightful storytelling scenes.
The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel)
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- Germany,
- Mongolia
- 2003
- · 91m
Director
Jiska Rickels
Cast
Janchiv Ayurzana,
Chimed Ohin,
Amgaabazar Gonson,
Zeveljamz Nyam,
Ikhbayar Amgaabazar,
Odgerel Ayusch
Genre
Documentary,
Drama
After two days of labor, a family of shepherds helps deliver a camel's first calf—a rare white camel. However, the mother rejects her calf, refusing it milk, so the family turns to various indigenous traditions to help bring mother and calf together.
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What are critics saying?
100
Dallas Observer by Bill Gallo
The result is a vivid anthropological document suffused with plenty of emotion and a touch of ancient magic.
100
San Francisco Chronicle by Jonathan Curiel
Weeping Camel essentially lets native people tell their own unforgettable story.
100
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Please see this movie, and take any kids old enough to read subtitles. It's one of a kind.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
The vivid fictional specifics, and the simple loveliness of the artless performances by nonactor Mongolian nomads, attest to the filmmakers' abundant artistry.
91
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
Mostly this film is a glorious ode to the culture and family bonds that override all else, and to the expressiveness of both the human and animal actors.
90
Village Voice by Leslie Camhi
Beyond its rare visions of remote vistas, Camel's great charm lies in its seeming simplicity. The camera records the events of the day -- from a little girl's tears to an afternoon sandstorm -- with a childlike clarity and curiosity.
90
Washington Post by Ann Hornaday
The movie, a lyrical blend of documentary and fiction filmmaking techniques, offers a bold example of the rewards of crossing boundaries -- stylistic, cultural, temporal and even commercial.
89
Austin Chronicle by Marjorie Baumgarten
The movie is slight but transfixing.
88
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
Even the hardest heart must melt in the face of The Story of the Weeping Camel.
80
The A.V. Club by Noel Murray
The family's few lines of dialogue are so integral to advancing the story that they may well have been scripted, but it's not that important whether The Story Of The Weeping Camel is more fiction than objective ethnography. If anything, the contrast between what's real and what may have been faked only adds to the tension between the natural world and encroaching modernism.
80
Variety by Derek Elley
The film spins a beguiling web of detail that builds to a surprisingly throat-clutching finish.
75
New York Post by Lou Lumenick
A rare film offering from Mongolia, is an unusual, captivating and crowd-pleasing semi-documentary about an extended family of camel herders -- and two of their flock.
70
The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck
The leisurely narrative is barely able to sustain the film's full-length running time, and some of the obviously staged sequences involving the family of shepherds are annoyingly hokey. Nonetheless, "Weeping Camel" has an undeniable appeal.
70
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Lovely, uncomplicated though limited movie.
60
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Davaa and Falorni's film does suggest that camels have inner lives as rich and complicated as the human beings with whom they live in such intimate proximity. But they're also wholly camels, matted, goopy-eyed, gritty with sand and quick to knee an adorable calf in the snout when its demands become annoying.
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