Customer Reviews

Grass Nations Battle for Life

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This 1925 silent film documentary is not for everybody. The first half is irrelevant and slow, and the commentary is hokey. I was surprised there were no dramatic Hollywood scenes of people falling off cliffs. But what I got instead was a historical record of 50,000 people and 500,000 animals walking for 48 days across Persia to avoid famine. It's hard to believe that these are real people, genuinely swimming for their lives, crossing a half-mile of freezing rapids holding on to blown up goat skins. We are so used to seeing things staged, that it's hard to accept that they really are climbing that 12,000 foot mountain in their bare feet, to get a better grip in the ice and snow.

I was living in Ankara/Turkey, where the people start their migration in this movie. Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. A video from 1925s. People passing the snow, barefoot and passing the lake by swiming with animals just took me somewhere else.

Though the movie does not dwell excessively on the pain of the 50,000 people who twice anually must trek for 48 days in order to survive, the horrors of such a journey cannot be ignored. The movie is a beautiful account of the lives of humans in the harshest of conditions.

I have a growing collection of DVDs which I hope my daughter might appreciate five to ten years hence, if and when she pursues a career in film. For the last few months I have seen many DVD silent "classics" -- a subject I avoided in the the VHS area because of variable quality and the difficulty in reading the subtitles. So, I saw the excellent reviews for this unknown (to me) silent, and decided to purchase it. The film is truly awesome (not the teen-ager word, but the correct denotation of awesome). To see people living and surviving in a most hostile environment less that one hundred years ago was transfiguring. We might as well have seen actual footage of the same migration from the 1500s! It was a contemporary time capsule to the past, and although the narrative titles are naive and sometimes silly -- well, that was another time. This is a wonderful "documentary" on recent world history. The extra commentary is also excellent. Enjoy!

Great Film! Story is untouched by Hollywood flair and fantasy because you just can't make this stuff up.There came a point in the film when I realized I had taken for granted that this was just a movie. Then I realized that their very survival rested on each and every step they took forward. If you think your life is stressful and unrewarding this movie will inspire you. Riveting!