Nikita Mikhalkov came to my attention when his "Burnt by the Sun" won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It turned out that he had gotten nominated just two years earlier for "Urga" ("Close to Eden" in English). Made as the Soviet Union was imploding - in fact, it got financed mostly by French money - this movie depicts a Russian truck driver whose truck gets stuck in rural China, leading him to a group of nomadic Mongols who take him under their wing.
Part of it is that I like seeing movies about cultures that we rarely get to see. Even beyond that, this look at a cross-cultural experience outside of modern civilization - but with traces of it encroaching on the Mongols' way of life - is one of the most mystifying movies that I've ever seen. I recommend checking it out.
Part of it is that I like seeing movies about cultures that we rarely get to see. Even beyond that, this look at a cross-cultural experience outside of modern civilization - but with traces of it encroaching on the Mongols' way of life - is one of the most mystifying movies that I've ever seen. I recommend checking it out.