Customer Reviews

Urga / Close to Eden [NO ENGLISH]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

there is some type of deception on the dvd urga page amazon provides you with. two items appear on it; while one item states: -russian soundtrack only- , the other one does not. so you are moved to order this other one. BIG ERROR. this other one is with no subtitles either. dont know why they do it. both are the same article!!!
check amazon france for the box containing urga (mikhalkov's four films) with french subtitles to be released sometime october novembre 2005!

i am very grateful that someone has made this beautiful film and captured a vanishing moment in world culture and landscape. Spellbinding and thought provoking.

This immensely satisfying film will please the viewer on all levels, as Mikhalkov provides a most engaging view into the life of a nomadic Mongolian family. He takes the viewpoint of a wayward Russian truck driver trying desperately to keep awake at the wheel only to run the truck into a stream bed. He is rescued by a Mongolian going through his own identity crisis, with hallucinations of Genghis Khan. The lasso or urga plays a major role in this film. As in all of Mikhalkov's movies, he focused on the most telling moments in what is a very special movie. The acting is so natural that the film has a life of its own. Vladimir Gostyukhin is superb as Sergei, the Russian truck driver, capturing all the humor and pathos of a decaying empire in his wonderful performance. But, it is the Mongolian family that will win your heart.

I agree with everything James Ferguson said. Very charming and exotic movie, though not as impressive as some of Mikhailkov's other work.
There is indeed a VCR cassette with English subtitles. I recommend that you write directly to the seller to ask

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
***** Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!

I watched this lyrical movie at a local independent film movie theater in 1992 and there is something about this film that still draws me back to watch it sometimes.

A traditional simple-minded Mongolian man, Gombo, marries a Mongolian city girl, Pagma, but continues his traditional shepherd life out on the sweeping steppes of Inner Mongolia in China. Their family meets a Russian truck driver, Sergei, after Sergei accidentally drives his truck into a creek. Sergei stays with the family at their ger (yurt) for awhile before he and Gombo drive into town because Gombo has been instructed by his wife to buy condoms (to prevent them from having more children due to China laws) and a television (to become more informed and less of a "barbarian", as his wife once refers to him).

Fantasy and surrealism interplay with stark realism in this film. Comedy contrasts with introspection. While sitting outside ignorantly staring at a newly-purchased television that is unwrapped and placed in the middle of the steppe fields without any source of electrical power, Gombo has a dream that his relative, Uncle Bayartou, has become Chinggis (Genghis) Khan and his wife has become Genghis' wife. Uncle Bayartou weaves in and out of this movie as a drunken happy-go-lucky nomad, riding his likewise seemingly drunken horse both outside and through indoor hallways. Bayartou seems to not have permanent home or occupation, yet he rides all over the place giving out little gifts to everyone. He gives Gombo a movie poster that advertises Sylvester Stallone in the 1986 action film, "Cobra", and tells them that the poster is a photograph of his brother in the U.S.

On the screen of the unplugged television sitting in the middle of the field, Sylvester Stallone's Rambo character is overlaid onto images of Chinggis Khan, a juxtaposition of the old and the new, the past and the present.

A scene that shows Gombo (humanely) slaughtering a sheep for the evening supper meal almost looks like a you-are-there documentary with the way it was filmed, depicting the traditional ways of the Mongols out on the steppes, as Sergei sits facing away from the butchering and cooking that is going on. The entire family helps slaughter the sheep for dinner in honor of their unexpected Russian guest. Even though Sergei later enjoys eating the cooked sheep, as a city-dweller, he is likely more accustomed to seeing his meats already butchered, cleaned, and packaged. This scene had me wondering how many of us can really stomach the sight of our cows, pigs, and chickens being slaughtered and how they are processed before the meats are displayed in our grocery stores all hermetically sealed inside styrofoam and plastic wrap.

Gombo's young daughter, Bourma, is adept at playing accordion, while her grandmother quietly sits in the ger squeezing and popping bubble wrap. The traditional clashes with the modern when Gombo rides into the bustling town on his horse, surrounded by bicycles and cars. Sergei feels like a stranger in Gombo's primitive and simplistic life, and when Gombo rides into the city on his horse, he feels like a stranger, especially while perusing the condoms at the pharmacy counter. This movie is called both "Urga" and "Close To Eden" as there are various symbolisms at play with the Eden reference. Gombo is like Adam and Pagma is like Eve in their Mongolian Eden. Uncle Bayartou even rides by and gives them an apple. Sergei bemoans the loss of Russian soul and traditions and his inability to remember and appreciate the past. By contrast, even though Gombo tells stories of Genghis Khan to his son and teaches his son to appreciate the simple beauties of watching a dragonfly and looking at rainbows, he feels compelled to join the 20th century and trade his traditions for some comforts of modern life.

The movie ends with a voiceover by Gombo and Pagma's fourth son. Gombo never does buy the condoms and the couple decides to engage in physical intimacy. The location where Gombo once placed his urga (lasso) as a do-not-disturb sign for other passersby has been replaced by a smokestack chimney spewing black smoke into the sky. "It can be seen very well from the window in the big house where I now live."

Since this movie is a trilingual experience with Russian, Mongolian, and Mandarin Chinese being spoken, I should comment on the availability of this movie on DVD with English subtitles since there are various (confusing) versions of this DVD out there. Originally, there was just the VHS version available on Amazon: Close to Eden [VHS]. This VHS version does have English subtitles. There is a version of this movie that displays no subtitles, Urga / Close to Eden [NO ENGLISH]; the DVD box cover shows Gombo and Pagma looking out with their yurt and horses in the background. There is a DVD version that has English subtitles, but according to the one single review for that product, it looks like they ruined the movie by overdubbing Russian speech onto the Mongolian (and also the Mandarin?) speech: Urga / Close to Eden [English, Subtitles]; the DVD box cover shows mustached movie director Nikita Mikhalkov standing next to a camera. When I watch a foreign film, I would MUCH rather listen to the original speech and read subtitles instead of listening to speech that has been overdubbed just for the convenience of not having to read subtitles. Since this movie was a joint collaboration between French and Russian crews, on the Amazon France Web site, there is also a French version of this DVD in PAL Region 2 format; that DVD box cover shows the urga lasso stick planted into the ground with the fields of the Mongolian steppes in the background. I do not know if that version has English subtitles. But since I wanted to add this movie to my DVD collection, I managed to find a DVD that does have English subtitles and NO overdubs! On the Amazon U.K. Web site, there is an all-regions compatible DVD being offered that has both Korean and English subtitles. The box cover shows Gombo riding his white horse and holding his urga lasso stick. The box cover has both optional Korean and English subtitles, and, most importantly, the original Russian, Mongolian, and Mandarin audio is preserved and retained. I received a 4:3 full-screen version; I am not sure if there is a wide-screen version of this 2010 Korean-version DVD release available, which would have been better. The DVD transfer quality on this Korean version is not that good (not terrible either) and the two-hour movie is divided into just four chapters on the DVD. But I am glad that I found this Korean version!

Nikita Mihalkov built a beautiful and poignant yarn about a Mongolian family in the middle of the road between the modernism and the ancestral customes.

This family lives isolated from the rest of the noisy city when suddenly a stranger has stranded with his truck at the edge of a river because of he fell asleep. This incident will originate a curious blend between these two men: carving in relief the abysmal differences between both ways of living and thinking about many issues.

Humor, surrealistic vignettes, towering images, fascinating script and inspiring direction made of this film one of the greatest ones during the early nineties. Nominated as Best Foreign Film, the film still remains fresh and vigent along these two elapsed decades.

An artistc triumph all the way through.