The Wolves Always Come at Night
Gabrielle Brady / Australia, Mongolia & Germany / 2024 / 96 min
Magnificent and cinematic docu-western set in Mongolia, where a young shepherd couple and their four children fight an epic battle against the elements to stay in the world they know.
If Sergio Leone had made a documentary western in Mongolia, it would probably have resembled this magnificent yet sensual and poetic hybrid film about traditions, climate change and the basic conditions of human life. Daava and Zaya are a young couple living with their four children under the dome of the sky in a vast mountainous region, making a living as herders of a colossal herd of horses.
But powerful sandstorms make life on the plains impossible, and soon they are forced to head for a new life in the big city of Ulan Bator. ‘The Wolves Always Come at Night’ blends documentary and fiction on an epic scale, with Daava and Zaya themselves co-authoring their own story.
You feel the desert dust on your own body, but you also float with the wind when a herd of wild horses proudly run through the frame in a moment of dreamy longing.