Something a little different with today’s review as this film is a documentary. The Eagle Huntress is about a young girl, 13, who is following in her father’s footsteps as a Eagle Hunter in the mountains of Mongolia. Hunting with eagles is an ancient tradition that supplies the families with fur and meat during the cold, hard, Mongolian winters and it is a tradition that usually passes from Father to Son.
The film, narrated by Daisy Ridley of The Force Awakes, introduces us to Aisholpan who has been fascinated by her father’s eagle hunting her entire life. Believing that girls and boys are equal, her father defies tradition and takes her under wing to teach her the ways of eagle hunting.
We watch as she learns the basic of the craft and even as she scales the side of a cliff in an attempt to get an eaglet of her own to raise. Aisholpan is a fearless girl, besting others with her courage and commitment.
The movies breaks out into three major sections, much like acts in a fiction work. The first part deals with he home life and her training to become an eagle hunter. In the next block we follow her and her father to the Eagle Festival where Eagle Hunters compete in Olympic-like games and Aisholpan is the first girl ever to compete. The final element of the film is following Aisholpan and her father as winter has hit and they voyage into the mountain to discover if she has truly become The Eagle Huntress.
Except for Ridley’s narration the film in subtitled and appears to present the people it documents fairly. (Not always the case with documentaries.) I thoroughly enjoyed the two hours I watched this film in the theaters. And as a comment you are to hear quite rarely from me – I love that jacket she is sporting the photo.
For people local to San Diego – we saw this movie at the Landmark Theaters on 5th ave and they have been seriously renovating the place. The seating is now over-stuffed recliners allowing you to watch the movies in great comfort. It creates a very limited audience, by my count the theater only seats 26.
This was a fun, moving, and heartwarming story of traditions kept and broken.
