La cazadora del águila

"It's not a choice, it's a calling that has to be in your blood." Aisholpan's father, Nurgaiv.

Rarely does a documentary tell it like it is; manipulative docs sometimes embellish with contrived conflicts or outrageously obvious re-creations. The Eagle Huntress needs no phony clashes or extensive re-enactments, for its hero is 13 year old Aisholpan, from Asia's Altai Mountains, the first female Kazakh in twelve generations to be a bona fide eagle huntress.

The Eagle Huntress is so beautifully shot you'd almost book passage to visit this isolated world in Mongolia by the China border. Director Otto Bell said, "It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there." The air and sky are clear like we in the city have never seen, and the nomadic tribe that gives us Aisolpan is so loving and innocent as to make us wonder what our modern technology has taken from us.

I guess I am most impressed that the modern notion of female empowerment is played without histrionics among elders who question her fitness as a woman to compete in the annual Golden Eagle Festival. Aisholpan is the perfect model for early teen film goers: fresh faced, wide smiled, and ready for challenges. Director Otto Bell lets the male power gently give in to the age of feminism without acting like stupid old guys.

The Eagle Huntress works not just as a tract supporting the new woman but also as a treatise on simple, authentic life style where what one does trumps what one says. By the way, she's a perfect role model because she lacks the self-absorbed qualities of today's female heroes.

It's beautiful and uplifting in the most honest way a doc can be.

"The Eagle Huntress" (2016 release from the UK; 87 min.) is a documentary about Aisholpan, a 13 yr. Mongolian girl, and her quest to become the first female eagle huntress. As the movie opens, we are introduced to the wide open spaces of western Mongolia, where eagles have been used for chasing "food and fur" for generations, but until now it was done exclusively by men. We get to know Aisholpan and her family. Her loving and doting dad has noticed his daughter's interest in eagle hunting and, against the better (?) thinking of certain other men in the local community, decides to train her. At this point we're 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of what's about to unfold would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by Otto Bell, whom I've never heard of before. Not that it matters, as Bell and the entire production crew are "embedded" in Ulgii and the surrounding parts of western Mongolia, with seemingly unrestricted access to Aisholpan and her family. What we get is a heart-warming documentary about a young girl's determination (encouraged by a loving dad) to become an eagle huntress. Along the way, we get gorgeous footage of the eagle hunters in action (check out the slo-mo footage--pure eye-candy) but also a fascinating look at what daily life is like in this remote part of the world. And in the end, this is also about girl empowerment, pure and simple. Kudos to Aisholpan's supportive dad (and the rest of the family). When Sia's original song "Angel by the Wings" plays over the end credits (with the most appropriate line "You Can Do Anything"), I dare you to suppress a smile or approving grin.

"The Eagle Huntress" opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Friday evening screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely, somewhat to my surprise (in the best possible way). Seems there may be a demand for this kind of family-friendly documentary with a deeper message that one might expect at first sight. If you love documentaries, you cannot go wrong with this one. "The Eagle Huntress" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

What can I say more than the reviewer/user prior? This is truly a wonderful film. I saw it on the last day of our International Film Festival and somehow the word must have 'got around' as the cinema was well filled! As the previous writer noted, the relationship between the locals and the film-makers must have been excellent. I noted carefully the credits on its conclusion and most seem to be Euro/Anglo names - again interesting, that alone adds credit.

The blurbs prior made much of the negative attitudes of the traditional people, but a tremendous joy of this film is that the father was totally behind and with his 13-yr old all the way. The empathy and shared loved of the task and each other was greatly inspiring. He was a tremendous teacher. The context of the piece with its daily and dramatic challenges with almost none of 1st World intervention (okay - they had trucks, wore jeans, sweat-shirts etc at the school, but today nowhere in the world is cut off from some 'western' features, is it?) I think one class shown was in beginner English.

A viewer should not miss the deep but never forced spiritual/religious impetus. Is this part of world of 'old Islam' does anyone know?

The Eagle Huntress is a true soul candy. An inspiring story beautifully filmed. It is very interesting to see how different life is in the Altai mountains, unaffected by time and the modern world and yet, the people seem to be happy and get by despite living in harsh conditions. It is also the story of hope, dreams and change of tradition. A young girl who wishes to become the first eagle huntress and breaks traditions that are hundreds of years old. Her loving father fully supports here on her journeys and the bond between them is truly touching. It would be a shame to lose more words over it since it would be best if you start watching it a soon as possible. You will not regret it.

Despite the controversy surrounding the legitimacy of this documentary (notably being omitted from the Oscar nominations in its respective category, while still being tipped as a potential front runner), The Eagle Huntress is a decent release that follows the story of (supposedly) the first eagle huntress in Asia, Aisholpan Nurgaiv. Nurgaiv is decidedly keen on entering a local eagle hunting festival at aged 13, before then venturing out into the mountains to become a fully-fledged eagle huntress.

Being an eagle huntress entails training a three-month-old eaglet (after taking it from its nest that is), with the eventual outcome of being able to successfully hunt with it, before letting it go after seven years to complete the "circle of life". 

Undeniably, this is a challenging way of life that requires hard work and years to master. Yet the film portrays Aisholpan in a light that makes it feel like she is rather too conveniently good at the work and that she was always capable of achieving the end goal, thus it struggles to truly resonate when the all-important pinnacle moments arrive. Whilst it is fair to assume Aisholpan possesses some natural talent, we rarely see her fail or train with negative outcomes. Exploring this side would certainly have made the film more relatable, and although Aisholpan is indeed personable, and there are some moments with a heartening timbre, it is unrealistic to think she didn't have much of a challenge in her path towards becoming the first eagle huntress. That is, it is unrealistic to think that there were no other challenges, disregarding the challenge of gender. It is established that eagle hunting is very much a male profession, an aspect battled with constantly throughout the film, which even manages to have comedic impact at times, but unfortunately this gets  increasingly repetitive by the end and is not seen to contribute towards any definitive conclusion. 

That said, it is wonderful to watch Aisholpan and her father endeavour through the magnificent landscapes of Asia, as it is a superbly filmed documentary. This is most definitively one of the film's strongest attributes, as it feels often that it relies very much on nature to tell the story. Arguably it gets away with this, as the story is easy to follow, yet  largely inconsequential; as part of western society, it is pre-determined exactly what we are meant to think about Aisholpan's ambitions. While on the one hand there is an absorbing undertone of female empowerment, there is little else to try and convince us that the conclusion will not be precisely what we expect.

The Eagle Huntress is a visual spectacle, full of emotion yet not as resonant as it  potentially could have been as a short film.