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Summary

Adapted from the novel Black Steed by Zhang Chengzhi (who spent four years during the Chinese Cultural Revolution with an Inner Mongolian family), A Mongolian Tale begins with two children being raised by Nai Nai, a wise grandmother, in the peaceful purity of childhood and the Mongolian steppes. Xie Fei's storytelling is simple and resonates with dignity. The spacious, traditional world of the steppe people is an idyllic landscape that seems timeless. Yet this is no fairytale but the story of childhood sweethearts separated by a changing world. Beiyinbulog, a boy whose father has left him to be raised by Nai Nai, has to leave Somiya, her shepherd grandmother’s helper, when his father summons him to train in veterinary science in the city. When he returns for her as a folksinger, three years later, he finds her circumstances radically changed. As adults the two find their true destinies and the hand that fate has dealt. How do we redeem our idyllic dreams dashed by realities? Can love and acceptance be found despite betrayal and loss? Beiyinbulog is played by Tengger, a Mongolian-born pop singer and composer who composed the film’s haunting, nostalgic score. His songs in the film capture the future for the children of the Mongolian steppes and the virtuous legacy of their homeland—''the vast and boundless grasslands are the cradle I was reared in.”

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