MONGOLIA: UNUSUAL FILM "THE STATE OF DOGS" HAS IT'S FILM PREMIERE IN ULAN BATOR

Record ID: 388163

  • Title: MONGOLIA: UNUSUAL FILM "THE STATE OF DOGS" HAS IT'S FILM PREMIERE IN ULAN BATOR
  • Date: 12th February 1999
  • Summary: "STATE OF DOGS" MOVIE, FILMED FROM INSIDE MOVIE THEATRE
  • Embargoed: 27th February 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: REUTERS TELEVISION ACCESS ALL) / INTI FILMS
  • Country: Mongolia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAC713UZ2UL9CSPTUY6K4XU8XKC
  • Story Text: A Belgian and a Mongolian film-maker have teamed up to produce a strange mystical tale about the short and brutal life of a stray dog.
    Mongolian movie-goers are enjoying a highly original film, focusing on the life and death of a stray dog roaming the streets of the Mongolian capital.
    Belgian writer and producer Peter Brosens was in Ulan Bator for the opening of "The State of Dogs", a hauntingly beautiful tale structured around the life of a dog called Baasar.
    Movie fans and dignitaries, including Mongolia's Prime Minister Janlaviin Narantsatsralt, braved the central Asian nation's bitterly cold winter to attend the movie premiere in Ulan Bator on January 27.
    This strange mixture of blunt documentary and lyrical mysticism is the joint achievement of the Belgian Peter Brosens and Mongolian journalist and film producer Dorjkhandiin Toermonkh.
    "Our idea was to tell a story, a simple story, the story of Basaar, a stray dog who was shot in the back streets of Ulan Bator", said Brosens at the premiere of the movie.
    "People believe that dogs are reborn as human beings, and obviously our dog doesn't want to be a man, because he was shot by a man, so...But, however, he can't escape his destiny, so in order to accept his fate, he tells his life story"
    The combination of Belgian documentary sensibility and a Mongolian interest in fable and legend produces a unique vision of barren landscapes, herds of goats roaming vast grasslands, changing seasons, highlighting the overwhelming despair pervading the streets of the blighted city.
    Ulan Bator is home to 800,000 people and over 120,000 dogs.
    The movie shows how authorities hire a man to kill the unwanted canines, sometimes leaving them to rot in the streets, or burrying them under trees.
    "State of Dogs", produced by Belgium's Inti Films, which won nine prizes at international film festivals, was filmed nearly two years ago in Mongolia.
    The Mongolia premiere caused excitement and controversy: a mixture of fascination for a tale reaching deep into the Mongolian psyche, yet revulsion at some of the ugliness and harshness bluntly depicted by the 91 minute movie.
    "As far as I am concerned, this is a modern film showing how far people can stretch their tolerance, and learn to understand their surroundings," said Narantsetseg, after watching the movie premiere.
    The story focuses on Baasar, a stray dog roaming the mean streets of Ulan Bator.While waiting for his inevitable death, the dog looks back to his bitter-sweet life on earth and remembers its short happiness and overwhelming harshness.
    He happily remembers when he lived with nomadic goat-herders on Mongolia's wild steppes, but eventually wound up on the streets of Ulan Bator without a master, eventually facing a brutal death --and a complex existential dilemma.
    Mongolians believe that dogs are reincarnated as human beings, and Baasar is reluctant to accept his fate, and be reincarnated as his murderer.
    In Buddhist philosophy, life and death are part of an eternal cycle of reincarnations.
    According to the belief in "karma" (roughly translated as fate), good or bad deeds directly affect your next reincarnation.
    "With the form and the style, and the visual approach of our film, we really wanted to bring this simple story on a more universal level, and to make it accessible and comprehensible for say, wider audiences, wider than just Mongolian audiences," said Brosens.
    Brosens is currently shooting a new movie in Mongolia, the last part of a trilogy including "City of the Steppes" and "State of Dogs".
    "The Poets of Mongolia" is a more documentary-style movie focusing on the harsh life of coal minors in a bleak city outside of Ulan Bator.
    The movie is structured around the transformation of coal into energy for Ulan Bator, and documents the lives of Mongolians living along a railway linking Nalaikh town with the capital 40 kilometers away.
    It depicts the Dickensian conditions of coal miners, risking death on a daily basis to dig coal from a bankrupt mine, as the nation sinks deeper into economic crisis.The movie is scheduled for completion in spring 1999.
    The movie's more down-to-earth approach will complete the more lyrical "State of Dogs", which has received international acclaim.
    "State of Dogs" benefits from a wonderfully poetic narration, contrasting with the harshness of day to day reality.
    Dog lovers won't be thrilled by brutal scenes showing people hunting and shooting down stray dogs.Certain scenes featuring cruelty to animals can clearly be upsetting to western audiences.
    Despite this, the timeless beauty of the film, its deep philosophical meaning, and highly poetic narrative make it compulsive viewing.
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