The Eagle Huntress

It is a story of a girl who raises an eagle and learns to hunt with it. This is something the people in her tribe do. However, girls don't. She and her teacher/father face a lot of opposition, which they eventually and eventfully over come.

I loved watching this movie. It’s a good movie for any age. Bird lover or not. An inspiring story with an uplifting ending.

A beautiful film. The Mongolian eagle hunters are part of ancient lore, capturing eagle chicks and grooming them to hunt for their human 'parents'. Tradition has it this has to be man's work, and the men in the film are to order, manly, proud, sure of themselves.So this girl has set her heart on hunting with an eagle. The way the story is told, and her success, are a deep catharsis to sweep away every doubt or tremor of anxiety that 'girls can't...or...shouldn't' -- anything. There are so many intimate scenes, from the huntress in her ger with her parents, to her cliff-scaling with her dad to capture the chick, to moments at school with her girl friends. One of the best shows her sitting on the ground, with the chick, hooded, perched at arm's length, as she paints her toenails a lovely shade of pale lavender.Watch it.

This young lady is capable of making real change in the world.

It's so so.

MOVIE GOER all my long life of days. This was recommended by a spiritual friend over a year ago. When it appeared at a local college, I was blown away completely by the story and the astounding cinematography! That is was a TRUE STORY was mind boggling. And on the Big Screen in a 700 seat auditorium, what a grand experience. We had a question and answer session because it was a feature of Women & Equality Studies at Monmouth U. I drove home enchanted. Bought the video the very next day because I wanted to watch it over and over again. Have done so. It remains a beautiful movie and I'll be asking friends over to see it with me, making a special night of it over wine and friendship. I raved so much about it on facebook because I don't want anyone to miss it. BRILLIANT. TOUCHING. WARM. VICTORIOUS. CELEBRATORY and WORLDLY in its breathtaking beauty. The relationship between father and daughter is the most impactful part for me. I read the young Star is going to become a doctor and that the money she and her family have received from the film is going toward her education. She is so amazing, I confess, I am over the moon over this film. RENT IT, BUY IT, SEE IT...any way you can. SUNDANCE WINNER. It'll captivate your heart and mind.

I recommend this film as it was such a good and warming film. For a woman who grew up with many things in my culture out of reach for me (and to this day there remain stringent gender roles where I live), it was so awesome to see the relationship between the father and daughter. She is a champion and her family makes me wish I also lived in the vast landscape with the eagles. I noticed also the boarding school and remark on how family units are dormed together. That would be an interesting topic also. LOVE the film and everyone in it. And of course, the eagles!

Beautiful in visuals & in spirit. Moving without being mawkish or ostentatious. Featuring a real girl & father as special as the eagle they hunt with. And perhaps one of the most beautiful, transcendent examples of a Sufi-philosophical type, nature-immersed expression of Islamic Culture. Not your usual media fodder, crazy extremist muslims. I'm enamored of these beautiful, brave, rare people who are struggling to keep their ancient ways in a materialist modern world, while also enriching their people with the addition of a female Eagle Huntress. The wisdom on the brow of the eagle can also be found on the brows of the hunter and his huntress daughter, and on their sturdy little steppe pony. All of them share a bond, a kinship of skill and respect of nature, among the ruthless and beautiful backdrop of Kazakhstan. So memorable that I bought it right after I rented it.

This film is absolutely amazing. It's about a young Kazakh girl who longs to become an Eagle Huntress - something that only men are allowed to aspire to in her culture. However, her father is rather unconventional and as she's the eldest child and very much her father's daughter, he treats her as he would do a son, and lets her do all the things he does or essentially that only boys would do in that particular culture - riding horses, hunting, etc.She actually captures her own Eagle chick whilst her father lowers her down a dangerous mountain precipice on spindly-looking ropes. All the while, the mother Eagle is hovering scarily close and the girl, Aisholpan has her work cut out to capture the chick before she returns to the nest.She lovingly rears the chick at home, hand feeding it with meat speared on a stick and sets out with her father to train it to hunt - spending days outdoors in freezing conditions that only men are supposed to be able to endure. Her aim is to train it up and enter a yearly competition, again, only usually entered by men or youths. Surprisingly, although she is female and this kind of behaviour is not usually supported in her culture, she is not actually forbidden from entering the competition and goes ahead, with the encouragement of her father (and mother - who thinks she's very daring and outrageous but is ultimately proud of her).I won't give away the ending but the cynical elders, despite having proof that some women can do what men do, remain unmoved in their opinions and insist that Aisholpan will ultimately have to marry and behave in a way that is becoming to a woman of their culture. What they fail to understand is that she is one of a kind and not all Kazakh girls will want to become Eagle Huntresses, as is indicated when Aisholpan is seen with her school friends in the weekly boarding school she attends. They are all terrified at the thought of handling an Eagle so I think the Kazakh nomadic culture is safe from sensational new ideas for the time being! No-one seems to think the use of motor vehicles or mobile phones is counter cultural though - just the thought that their masculinity has been undermined by a thirteen year old girl whose skill and daring puts most modern European children to shame. Asking a UK teenager to touch a piece of raw meat would probably send them into floods of tears and refusal, never mind asking them to feed it to an Eagle!Watch and learn! Fantastic scenery, gorgeous costumes and stunningly beautiful people who have a calm inner strength and a serenity that belies their tough and unforgiving living conditions.

A really interesting and heart warming film, well worth watching - and it will give you a fascinating insight on a people and place you might otherwise never encounter.It feels a bit Disney in places, but it's actually based on a true story, so the 'unlikely' things that happen really DID happen! Beautifully filmed as well - which, if you know the circumstances under which it was filmed, is quite extrordinary. I watched a documentary, or heard a radio programme (I can't remember which) on how it was made, but can't remember when or where, but if you can track that down, it's also worth a watch/listen.Having prior knowledge of this film, I was anticipating that there would be a lot more fuss about it when it was released, but it seems to have passed by almost unoticed, which is a great shame, as it deserved a much wider distribution.Definitely get this DVD - you won't be disappointed.

This is a fabulous depiction of the process of capturing a wild Eagle and the respect shown to the bird by his handlers. I loved how the bond of trust slowly developed between him and his huntress. Of course, the sadness of another creature losing its life is part of it but, the bird kills quickly. Or appears to. When they all went off to the annual competition... well... no spoilers. Dad is amazing. He was fully supportive of his daughters dream and even the die hard elders lost their scepticism in the end.A thoroughly engrossing watch. Full of wild, majestic scenery and the beauty of the bird.I loved it all. And will watch over and over.The best bit...? When they honour the right of the bird to regain his freedom. And give him back to the skies and cliffs. If I could give 10 stars I would.

This again lived upto all expectations as my sister originally saw it and recommended to me so checked the reviews and they were almost 100 pct positive - what made it particularly impressive was the Father, who was particularly enlightened and encouraging his daughters' ambition against tradition and to see the old sages who said will never work as women should stay at home., but this young lady proved them all wrong with an outstanding young Golden Eagle which her Father helped her capture by holding rope when lowered onto eagles nest precariously perched on rocky ledge high on cliff edge - amazing and the start of this Wonderful story and Eagles are released after seven years

A beautiful true story and stunning cinematography. I don't want to be cynical but it does feel, well, a tad implausible - not the young lady, she and her passion are amazing but the old stalwarts set in their ways changing? However, according to an article on the BBC, Director Otto Bell denies all accusations that the film was scripted, acted or re-enacted.I bought the blu-ray version which only amplifies the stunning cinematography.