Nothing within "The Story of the Weeping Camel" itself makes it apparent whether it is fact or fiction. Some elements are
clearly real and would be difficult to fake convincingly -- I think of the scene in which a camel gives birth and its owners act as midwives -- and the opening title "Spring 2002" is far more specific than most fictional films get. But then there are the cameras on tripods, the flow of the story that feels the way made-up stories feel, and the characters' naturalism that give the film a fictional texture. People in documentaries usually look at the camera a lot, and the cameras are usually shaky, hand-held things. Not so here. The filmmakers, Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni, call their work "narrative documentary" -- a blend of fact and fiction, in other words. Elvis Mitchell in the New York Times explains that while following a family of nomadic shepherds in the Gobi Desert simply to document their way of life, the directors happened upon the incidents that became the film's central storyline. Some scenes were recreated using the original participants (no actors), while others are original, candid footage. Knowing that going in, you can probably figure out which category each scene belongs to, but the movie is so simple and captivating that you probably ought to just enjoy it.
To read the rest of this review, click on the relevant link below.