In the heart of Mongolia’s vast Gobi Desert, Davaa and Zaya, like generations before them, lead a traditional nomadic life, herding livestock and raising their four children. Despite the hardships, their existence is one of contentment—marked by moments of familial warmth amidst the harsh landscape. In her hybrid documentary The Wolves Always Come at Night, filmmaker Gabrielle Brady contrasts the stunning expanse of the desert with intimate scenes of the family sharing meals and quiet moments in their modest home, capturing both the beauty and struggle of their everyday life.
A particularly poignant moment occurs when the young children take turns telling frightening tales of mythical creatures and deadly potions, illustrating a world of imagination and wonder. But the reality the family faces is far more terrifying. The devastating impact of climate change has unleashed unprecedented natural disasters, wiping out countless herds—including those of Davaa and Zaya. With their livelihood destroyed, the family is forced to leave the desert in search of new opportunities. Davaa trades his horse for an excavator, working on construction sites to make ends meet, while the family grapples with the loss of their former way of life.
Brady’s decision to begin filming only after Davaa and Zaya had already left the desert adds a layer of poignant irony to the film. The couple, credited as co-writers, returned to their homestead to re-enact their previous life, a process that must have been both therapeutic and heart-wrenching. The re-creations of their pastoral existence, set against the backdrop of the Gobi’s sweeping beauty, are rendered with languorous cinematography, emphasizing both the melancholy and nostalgia of a way of life that seems increasingly doomed by the forces of environmental destruction.
As climate change accelerates, threatening to erase ways of life like Davaa and Zaya’s, The Wolves Always Come at Night becomes a somber reflection on the fragility of traditions in the face of global upheaval. The film’s haunting imagery serves as a reminder that such ways of life may soon exist only in the realm of fictional daydreams.
The Wolves Always Come at Night will be screening at Bertha DocHouse, London, starting January 3.
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