‘Goat cheese and tea with salt’: Singing at the roots of the world

11 years after making “The Two Horses of Genghis Khan”, Mongolian director Byambasuren Davaa dares to shoot her first feature film after establishing herself as one of the leading figures of cinema in the Asian country. Nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary for the masterful ‘The Story of the Weeping Camel’, now presents a preview of ‘Goat cheese and salt tea’, a feature film that brings the spirit of the fairy tale into a story that conquers thanks to its message and its simplicity.

davaa narrates the story of a nomadic people who refuse to be forced to leave the lands where they work. He does it very simply, played by a boy who is the son of goat herders, who make their living by selling the cheese they produce at the city market, which is rapidly losing inhabitants due to the aggressive campaign of a mining company that tries to dig and create a quarry in the area where several families live. The 11-year-old, named Amra, dreams of singing and takes advantage of the fact that the casting of “Got Talent” comes to town for a chance, while the father struggles to prevent the community from having to abandon their land.

In reality, the story narrated by Davaa, who writes the script with Jiska Rickels, is very simple and right there is the key. In fact, a straightforward premise, without frills and embellishments, allows you to create a feature film of extraordinary beauty, with masterful photography, the work of Talal Khoury, and a narrative that recalls Davaa’s origins as a documentary director. The charisma of little Amra, embodied by Bat-Ireedui Batmunkh, is very reminiscent of little Pem Zam from ‘Lunana, a yak at school’, who, in fact, affirmed how essential it is to promote development in the rural areas of Asian countries.

A sincere song with rural roots. A new success by Byambasuren Davaa

It is Batmunkh who conquers the public, who will not be able to resist a captivating story, told with love and respect, which clearly shows the spirit of Davaa for the defense of the nomadic peoples of their landjust as he did in ‘El perro mongol’ – where he was already playing with the idea of ​​a fable – and, above all, with the aforementioned ‘The story of the crying camel’, a fundamental work that has revolutionized the way of not make pretense. Daily and captivating sequences, such as the one in which the whole city gathers to see the child perform or the herding of the goats, fascinate with their humility and simplicity.remembering that, many times, the magic of cinema lies in those small details.

‘Goat cheese and tea with salt’ is a song at the roots of the world, to those who have chosen a lifestyle far from conventions and the metropolitan and their right to preserve their identity. With a frontal environmental critique of human over-ambition, Davaa’s debut as a fictional storyteller couldn’t be more extraordinary. An everyday pearl.

Note: 8

The best: His extraordinary photography and the simplicity with which Davaa tells this rural drama.

Worse: It is a film with family aspirations and a mass audience, despite its nationality, which implies that some viewers more akin to riskier proposals reject it.