Birthpsychology at the Movies

The Story of the Weeping Camel (2004)
Reviewed by Millie Dosh
This documentary was nominated for an Academy Award in 2005

The Story of the Weeping Camel is set in the Gobi Desert where a small band of Mongolian families live among their camels and sheep. The two-day labor in birthing and the struggle with bonding of a first-time mother camel and baby colt is a study in the healing of birth trauma.

Initially the mother rebuffs the baby's attempts to suckle. All normal folkways of the people fail to shift the mother's pattern of rejection. The whole band expresses deep concern and two children (on camelback) are sent to town to request the healing services of a violin teacher. He comes and performs a familiar ritual which assists the mother camel to reach to her core of instinctual care for her newborn.

The tenderness and understanding of the people for the disrupted relationship of the mother/baby pair is profound, and their ability resolve the barriers is startling.

I wondered how the movie ever came to be made, how National Geographics learned of these folkways, so full of wisdom. It is powerful and could be used well in course work in pre- and perinatal psychology. I hope you all have an opportunity to see the movie. The cultural details are beautiful!