With 160 yaks, a few horses and the knowledge that centuries of tradition are behind them, four Tibetan men travel on foot for months to harvest salt from a remote frozen lake in German documentarian Ulrike Koch's sublime, rugged real-life adventure.
A Zeitgeist Films release that is drawing healthy crowds in weekend matinees at Laemmle's Monica 4-plex, "The Saltmen of Tibet" in its educational aspects recalls "Nanook of the North" and a thousand other geographical or anthropological films, but this time there's an unusually compelling narrative and one-of-a-kind characters.
Opening with a mesmerizing performance of the heroic Tibetan epic of King Gesar, sung by a traditional Gesar singer, "Saltmen" does require patience, and an interest in Buddhist culture doesn't hurt.
But visually, there's a never-ending appeal to the mighty peaks and windswept expanses of the Chang Tang region of northern Tibet, where nomads travel without roads and make a living gathering raw salt in a meticulous and exhausting-to-watch combination of ritual and backbreaking physical labor.
Koch and crew make the most of this rare opportunity. Although the yaks-and-sacks method of salt-gathering has gone on for thousands of years, it is another fading tradition in the Chinese-ruled Autonomous Region of Tibet.
Led by the group's oldest member, Margen, the mystical saltmen speak their own sacred language and carefully attend to every aspect of the journey, with the labor divided more or less evenly. Still, one can't help but feel that the team member called Lord of the Animals has more than his share keeping all those yaks accounted for and in good health.
From praying to the "goddess of the lake" to prayers and ablutions extended to all gods, the devoted and disciplined saltmen have a profound connection to the physical world, with unbelievable willpower and physical strength. In their respect for all living things, they even leave a sick, useless yak with a doctor rather than abandon it or worse.
Uneventful by most standards, even for documentaries, "Saltmen" nonetheless justifies its near two-hour length with evocative sequences and beautiful individual shots, as well as inserts of the enchanting Gesar singer.
THE SALTMEN OF TIBET
Zeitgeist Films
Catpics Co-productions
in co-production with Duran Film
Writer-director: Ulrike Koch
Co-producers: Christophe Bicker, Knut Winkler
Executive producer: Alfi Sinniger
Director of photography: Pio Corradi
Editor: Magdolna Rokob
Music: Stefan Wulff, Frank Wulff
Color/stereo
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A Zeitgeist Films release that is drawing healthy crowds in weekend matinees at Laemmle's Monica 4-plex, "The Saltmen of Tibet" in its educational aspects recalls "Nanook of the North" and a thousand other geographical or anthropological films, but this time there's an unusually compelling narrative and one-of-a-kind characters.
Opening with a mesmerizing performance of the heroic Tibetan epic of King Gesar, sung by a traditional Gesar singer, "Saltmen" does require patience, and an interest in Buddhist culture doesn't hurt.
But visually, there's a never-ending appeal to the mighty peaks and windswept expanses of the Chang Tang region of northern Tibet, where nomads travel without roads and make a living gathering raw salt in a meticulous and exhausting-to-watch combination of ritual and backbreaking physical labor.
Koch and crew make the most of this rare opportunity. Although the yaks-and-sacks method of salt-gathering has gone on for thousands of years, it is another fading tradition in the Chinese-ruled Autonomous Region of Tibet.
Led by the group's oldest member, Margen, the mystical saltmen speak their own sacred language and carefully attend to every aspect of the journey, with the labor divided more or less evenly. Still, one can't help but feel that the team member called Lord of the Animals has more than his share keeping all those yaks accounted for and in good health.
From praying to the "goddess of the lake" to prayers and ablutions extended to all gods, the devoted and disciplined saltmen have a profound connection to the physical world, with unbelievable willpower and physical strength. In their respect for all living things, they even leave a sick, useless yak with a doctor rather than abandon it or worse.
Uneventful by most standards, even for documentaries, "Saltmen" nonetheless justifies its near two-hour length with evocative sequences and beautiful individual shots, as well as inserts of the enchanting Gesar singer.
THE SALTMEN OF TIBET
Zeitgeist Films
Catpics Co-productions
in co-production with Duran Film
Writer-director: Ulrike Koch
Co-producers: Christophe Bicker, Knut Winkler
Executive producer: Alfi Sinniger
Director of photography: Pio Corradi
Editor: Magdolna Rokob
Music: Stefan Wulff, Frank Wulff
Color/stereo
Running time -- 110 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/1/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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