The Eagle Huntress

In the mountains of northwest Mongolia, the Kazakh nomads live much the same as they did thousands of years ago. They live in small family groups, often seeing no other people for days or weeks. And they train eagles to hunt with them.

This might seem enough in itself to justify a documentary feature, an inspection of an ancient culture that has mastered what to city folk seems a particularly feral sort of nature. But there's more -- and British documentarian Otto Bell misses no opportunity to remind of the life lessons and girl power politics implicit in his feel-good documentary The Eagle Huntress.

For the subject of his film is Aisholpan Nurgaiv, a charming, pig-tailed 13-year-old who -- toughened by the mountain air and preternaturally cheerful -- is determined to live up to her family's champion legacy by competing in and winning a 2,000-year-old eagle hunting competition. And she'll be the first girl to do so.

OK, let's admit that the movie plays up the feminist angle a bit. Aisholpan's father and grandfather are supportive of her ambition. And when she signs up for the contest, nobody protests. Sure, there are scenes of dubious elders tut-tutting and mansplaining, but they don't seem to present much of an obstacle for the indomitable, adorable Aisholpan, who emerges as a star ready for chat show couches and (why not?) her own nature show.

Narrated by Star Wars star Daisy Ridley, The Eagle Huntress is somewhat reminiscent of the Disney nature documentaries a lot of baby boomers grew up on in the '50s and '60s, right down to its somewhat too-good-to-be-authentic cinematography. But on the other hand, re-creations and staged shots have been part of documentary tradition since Nanook of the North. In the end, does it matter exactly how cinematographer Simon Niblett obtained these remarkable, gorgeous aerial tracking shots?

We might wonder if the scene where Aisholpan and her father shimmy down a rock face to steal a baby eaglet from a nest -- the idea is to get a trainable bird after they're old enough to survive on their own away from mother but before they've learned to fly -- was really done in one take. (Maybe it was. You can do a lot with a GoPro and sufficient courage.)

If stuff like that bothers you, why don't you go discuss it over there -- a safe distance from the film's target audience of susceptible youngsters and animal lovers. I'll join you in a few minutes. Maybe.

Questions of absolute authenticity aside, Aisholpan and her family lead fascinating lives (she attends a boarding school in a regional town and joins her family only on weekends) and first-time director Bell (who reportedly spent his life savings and went into debt to make this film after running across a series of photographs Israeli photographer Asher Svidensky did of Aisholpan for the BBC) and a skeleton crew spent weeks living in tents on the tundra to capture the story.

Sure, you can have ethical misgivings about the movie (animals die; it's a little disturbing to see an eaglet stolen from the nest while its mother circles overhead); but it's clear that the symbiotic relationship benefits the hunters and their birds (who are released into the wild after seven years of service). The Eagle Huntress might not be the best film you'll see this year, but it is a captivating and earnest storytelling.

MovieStyle on 12/09/2016