The Eagle Huntress is a highly atmospheric documentary that can be shared by the whole family

REVIEW: The Eagle Huntress puts the viewer on the spot as thousands of years of tradition are coming to an end, and an all-new tradition is being forged.

The Eagle Huntress (G)

Director: Otto Bell (documentary debut)

Starring: Aisholpan Nurgaiv, Rys Nurgaiv, Daisy Ridley (narrator).

Rating: Four and a half stars

A girl, a bird, a destiny: it all wings true

In The Eagle Huntress, we have a warm, inviting and highly atmospheric documentary that can be shared by the whole family.

Soaring and gliding from one gust of uplift to another, the movie cannot help but inspire and enlighten anyone who falls under its irresistible spell.

It is a major understatement to observe that the remarkable heroine of The Eagle Huntress, Aisholpan Nurgaiv, is not your typical 13-year-old girl.

Her family come from a long line of Kazakh nomads who have always lived on the broad windswept steppes beneath Mongolia’s Altai Mountains.

LOGAN: One hell of a howl

Aisholpan Nurgaiv stars in The Eagle Huntress.

For over two thousand years, the fate of Aisholpan’s people has been tied to the golden eagle.

These majestic winged predators are carefully plucked from the nest, and painstakingly trained by the men of the tribe to provide food and fur all year round.

The bond between hunter and bird is crucial to life in what is one of the most remote inhabited regions of our planet. If it is broken, entire families are exposed to the unforgiving ravages of hunger and the elements.

The refined set of skills required to become an eagle hunter has only even been passed down from father to son. The role of nomadic Kazakh women has been confined to processing the spoils of the hunt: preparing meals and making clothes.

That is until young Aisholpan decides she wishes to become the first female of her people to train and work her own golden eagle.

Therefore as a documentary, The Eagle Huntress is putting us right there on the spot as thousands of years of tradition are coming to an end, and an all-new tradition is being forged.

A new era is forged in the documentary The Eagle Huntress.

With the encouragement of her father Rys — a highly skilled hunter in his own right — the plucky, playful and resolutely determined Aisholpan refuses to be intimidated by the steep learning curve looming before her.

She clambers down the face of a cliff and finds her own golden eagle hatchling to train. As the little bird grows, she schools it to respond to various intonations in her voice.

Then comes the highly intricate tricks of the hunting trade itself, most of which must be executed while barrelling along at speed on horseback.

And just to make Aisholpan’s unprecedented journey all the more arduous, the male elders of her people keep chiming in with plenty of negative and sexist feedback.

However, like so many unwitting role models before her, Aisholpan Nurgaiv won’t be stopped. She is too busy getting started.

The Eagle Huntress is now showing.

Originally published as The Eagle Huntress is a highly atmospheric documentary that can be shared by the whole family