The Story of the Weeping Camel

Camels get their due in this sweet movie about a white colt camel and its grumpy mother. When the camel (named Botok) is the result of a long and tiring birth, its mother refuses to give it milk. Nomads in the Gobi Desert do their best to bring the couple together, and that baby camel makes the saddest sound you’ll ever hear when mommy takes her time. A documentary of sorts (real Nomads are used in a story that acts as a sort of ode to their way of life), it also contains wonderful footage of two brothers, Dude and Ugna, as they travel to an outpost to seek help for their camel dilemma. The nomads live in a world that is absent, for the most part, of modern technology, but they do have a radio, and the batteries are dying. The film is often funny, especially when technology intrudes (young Ugna wants a TV and wears Adidas headgear). The final sequence involving the Nomads and their sensitive camels is mighty touching.