The Force Awakens star Daisy Ridley was so taken with this marvellous documentary that she came on board as the film's narrator. It's easy to see why the sci-fi action heroine was impressed by The Eagle Huntress' real-world action heroine. The opening scenes of Otto Bell's inspirational debut feature resemble a Robert Flaherty ethnograph, sweeping across the epic, forbidding horizons of Mongolia's Altai Mountains.
This terrain is home to the Kazahk eagle hunters, a rarefied nomadic community who capture and train young golden eagles to hunt foxes and rabbits. The tradition is passed down from father to son and is rule-bound.
“Custom dictates that after seven years of loyal service, an eagle must be returned to the wild,” we are told, as one hunter slaughters a lamb and offers it as a parting gift to his bird. “You have brought only good things for me. But I will release you because all things must end.”
Enter 13-year-old Aisholpan,who dreams of becoming the first eagle huntress in Mongolia. Local elders are less than impressed. “Girls make tea,” says one. “Girls get cold,” notes another. Aisholpan’s doting dad, however, could not be more encouraging. “You can fly the eagle from the mountain,” he marvels, with a thumbs up. “Some men can’t do that.”
Later, as his daughter climbs in search of an eaglet to call her own, he marvels some more: "I've never seen a nest that was so hard to reach." His wife is equally supportive. Indeed, the film could easily be subtitled How to Raise a Kick-Ass Young Woman.
And what a young woman. Traditionalists may scorn, but Aisholpan remains cheerful, apple-cheeked, goal-oriented and eagle-mad throughout. Her relationship with her bird is almost as touching as the bond she shares with her happy, close-knit family.
DOP Simon Niblett’s camera seems to fly over the steppe as dozens of eagle hunters gather for the national championship where this well-loved daughter and classic sports underdog must prove herself in a stirring contest. This wonderful film has already been long-listed for an Academy Award.
More impressive still is the number of commentators and critics calling Aisholpan this year’s Elsa. We’ll happily cue for an eagle huntress action figure.
