Coming-of-age stories are film classics. In this one, Ze is a 17-year-old with a regimented life and several responsibilities on his shoulders, including high school, family obligations and the atypical responsibility of being the shaman of his town in Mongolia, which adds certain spiritual restrictions to his life. But when he meets Maralaa, his world opens up to new possibilities, sensations and desires.
Growing up is difficult wherever we are, but recognizing the specific circumstances of this or that transition to adulthood allows us to move beyond the clichés and fully appreciate the violence of this defining moment. In City of Wind, Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s first work, for the central character, Ze, the stakes are no higher than for any other teenager in 17 years, but the film makes us feel them just as intensely. as if it were our own destiny.
Ze may be a shaman, but he is also a normal boy, and Purev-Ochir brilliantly portrays the feelings that arise between him and Maralaa, without ever underestimating or overestimating the depth of this teenage love. Their joy lies in simple things, like spending time at the mall or dyeing hair together. By focusing on Ze’s crisis of conscience, Purev-Ochir takes seriously not only the difficulties related to his beliefs, but also those that affect all young people on the threshold of adulthood. What kind of life do we want to live? What values should it be based on? It’s a dilemma that is perhaps particularly acute in Ulaanbaatar, a city described as unforgiving, where students are only valued based on their potential to become business leaders, but there are few places today where children are not treated this way. (Michaël Gaspar)
