06-05-2022, 10:17 AM
I'll preface this review with my whole life story. On second thought, just a narrow slice of it.
In my teens or even earlier, I read all these adventure novels by Willard Price. Amazon Adventure, South Sea Adventure, Underwater Adventure, Volcano Adventure, Whale Adventure, and so on. If I recall, a father and son would have all these exciting adventures. They'd almost become lunch for a giant clam. They'd wrestle a giant anteater. They'd wrestle a big anaconda. Gosh, I loved those books. But with one caveat. There was always a villainous human, or group of humans, to deal with. I hated that. It took up too much of the books. These days I'd criticize Price for thinking you needed human-human conflict for a story. It's a very cheap and formulistic type of conflict, as far as I'm concerned, given too much attention in storytelling these days.
I had the same reaction to the TV series Lost in Space. Boy, I wanted to like that. But what was with the villainous Dr. Zachary Smith? Why was he so prominently evil in almost every episode. Likewise--and here I'm going to briefly defend Harlan Ellison--why did Gene Roddenberry require the starship Enterprise to be threatened in every damned episode? Just cheap and formulistic conflict, to my mind. Okay, my defense of Harlan ends here.
Now, at last, my review of Joan of Arc of Mongolia.
Various people are traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They're a diverse group from various countries, ranging from peasants with their livestock to soldiers to entertainers to the very wealthy. It's a perfect setup for a clash of cultures, which is the direction most directors would take it. But not Ulrike Ottinger. She shows these people celebrating and even sharing their differences. She goes about it at a leisurely pace, and the movie itself is like 2 hours and 45 minutes. But I found it both refreshing and fascinating.
Yes, there are a few cultural bumps along the way, especially when the key characters take the Trans-Mongolian extension and end up among the Mongol tribes. But for the most part, it's a big celebration of diversity.
A good portion of the story takes place in a Mongolian tribe, with everyone adapting to their customs and beliefs. As such, it's an ethnographic treasure trove --of how they ride, wrestle, eat, yurt (used as a verb here, and why not, for a nomadic people?). No doubt the Mongolian lifestyle gets distorted a bit by the needs of the story. Still, Ulrike Ottinger seems deeply respectful of their way of life. Their clothing is so colorful. This, by the way, is a woman's tale. The cast in largely women, even among the Mongols.
Probably not for most Doomers, but could be a nice change of pace.
Warning: There is a ritual slaughter of an animal late in the movie (at roughly the two hour and ten minute mark). Just so you know.
In my teens or even earlier, I read all these adventure novels by Willard Price. Amazon Adventure, South Sea Adventure, Underwater Adventure, Volcano Adventure, Whale Adventure, and so on. If I recall, a father and son would have all these exciting adventures. They'd almost become lunch for a giant clam. They'd wrestle a giant anteater. They'd wrestle a big anaconda. Gosh, I loved those books. But with one caveat. There was always a villainous human, or group of humans, to deal with. I hated that. It took up too much of the books. These days I'd criticize Price for thinking you needed human-human conflict for a story. It's a very cheap and formulistic type of conflict, as far as I'm concerned, given too much attention in storytelling these days.
I had the same reaction to the TV series Lost in Space. Boy, I wanted to like that. But what was with the villainous Dr. Zachary Smith? Why was he so prominently evil in almost every episode. Likewise--and here I'm going to briefly defend Harlan Ellison--why did Gene Roddenberry require the starship Enterprise to be threatened in every damned episode? Just cheap and formulistic conflict, to my mind. Okay, my defense of Harlan ends here.
Now, at last, my review of Joan of Arc of Mongolia.
Various people are traveling on the Trans-Siberian Railroad. They're a diverse group from various countries, ranging from peasants with their livestock to soldiers to entertainers to the very wealthy. It's a perfect setup for a clash of cultures, which is the direction most directors would take it. But not Ulrike Ottinger. She shows these people celebrating and even sharing their differences. She goes about it at a leisurely pace, and the movie itself is like 2 hours and 45 minutes. But I found it both refreshing and fascinating.
Yes, there are a few cultural bumps along the way, especially when the key characters take the Trans-Mongolian extension and end up among the Mongol tribes. But for the most part, it's a big celebration of diversity.
A good portion of the story takes place in a Mongolian tribe, with everyone adapting to their customs and beliefs. As such, it's an ethnographic treasure trove --of how they ride, wrestle, eat, yurt (used as a verb here, and why not, for a nomadic people?). No doubt the Mongolian lifestyle gets distorted a bit by the needs of the story. Still, Ulrike Ottinger seems deeply respectful of their way of life. Their clothing is so colorful. This, by the way, is a woman's tale. The cast in largely women, even among the Mongols.
Probably not for most Doomers, but could be a nice change of pace.
Warning: There is a ritual slaughter of an animal late in the movie (at roughly the two hour and ten minute mark). Just so you know.