ABSTRACT
The 2003 movie The Weeping Camel tells the story of a camel in Mongolia who gives birth to a colt after a difficult labor that lasts several days. The mother rejects the colt, moving deliberately away from it when the baby tries to approach, despite the attempts of the camel’s caretaker to encourage her to nurse. The family that owns the camel conducts a religious ritual that focuses on the ways man plunders the earth. The participants demonstrate remorse for their greed in order to summon the good spirits who keep the world’s harmony intact. The camel continues to reject her colt. The family then sends its two young boys to a relatively distant town to fetch a musician. When the musician arrives he plays a mournful melody on a cello-like instrument while the woman caretaker brings the mother camel toward the musician. The caretaker, accompanied by the musical instrument, sings a mournful song while lovingly stroking the camel’s neck.
