Öndög
A witty, tender and visually bewitching tale of death, desire and camels on the plains of Mongolia.
A naked woman is found murdered in the Mongolian steppe. Overnight, a young and inexperienced policeman has to secure the crime scene. Since he is not familiar with the dangers on site, a local herder is sent to guard him and the body. This resolute woman in her mid-thirties knows how to handle a rifle – and how to scare away wolves. She lights a fire against the cold. Alcohol also helps them to stay warm. At her instigation, the two get closer to each other.
At the centre of this film is a tenacious woman in the uninhabited expanse of the steppe. This otherwise self-sufficient herder, known to everyone as ‘dinosaur’, only tolerates her caring neighbour when there is a problem with her herd. Anything that goes beyond that, she brusquely rejects. As for herself and her future, she has her very own plan, one which is related to the lonely landscape and its myths. The setting of this film is far more than just a backdrop; rather, its own singular reality seeps into the narrative. The story itself is full of comic moments and surprising twists and turns; it also handles existential themes in a beautifully casual fashion. (source: www.berlinale.de)