A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.
Reviews
A Mongolian herdsman and his wife live a simple yet idyllic life which is interrupted when he rescues a Russian lorry-driver who has crashed into a river and brings him home to his family.Urga is a gentle, almost dreamy film that contrasts consumerism and the stress of modern living with a less cluttered way of life that scarcely exists in the developed world. Many subsequent films (some of them also set in Mongolia) have taken their cues from the themes here. Urga won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and Best European Film at the European Film Awards. It was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and for a Golden Globe in the same category.
Nikita Mihalkov is a god when it comes to film. The guy below me is probably a not very smart, Hollywood films are 20% good and the rest is garbage just like your comment. I have seen but a few good American films the rest is the same old crap. I would like to say that American films have no life its always the same. This film has an amazing plot with its twist and turns make it a master piece. I am just trying to get my point across but the policy won't let me have anything smalled than 10 lines. I would love to me Nikita Mihalkov and just let him know that he is such a great director. So please when you see this really try to learn to speak and understand the Russian language so you can actually grasp what the movies is all about and really suck in the meaning of it.
Hollywood sometimes gets a bad rap. Whenever you hear of a "garbage" film, the name Hollywood often is used. I have news for you: "garbage" films are made ALL over the world. Nobody has a monopoly on them. The Brits, Spaniards, Italians, Japanese, Brazlians, etc., etc., all have their share of scummy films. Here, we get a collaboration of the Russians, Mongols and Chinese that combine to make a lousy movie.The Mongol kids were cute, but that was cute but that was about it for appealing facets of the film. The main character was profane and unlikable and the film had some stupid dialog throughout. That was probably the worst aspect of it, along with the fact that there was very little story here. It's mainly vignettes about a clash in cultures.I did like some of the cinematography, the panoramic shots of the "steppes" being the best. It was some this wonderful scenery that kept me going in this film, which will bore most audiences: I guarantee you. This is slow-going and not a real happy story and ending, either.
This movie shows us a world without any borders, laws. Just a bunch of people who live in a superb nature, which fills the wide moviescreen in its endless beauty. It reminds us, how far we are away from nature, from our roots of our ancesters. That's why I think this movie appeals the people from all over the world. And especially those who like the widescreen movies from John Huston to Visconti. Only for the superb shots you can see it over and over again. It's, without any doubt a timeless beaty