Keswick Film Club - Reviews - If Only I Could Hibernate

Our last film of the year was one we had tried to get a year earlier, but the small audience appreciated the wait. Set in the 'Yurt District' of Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, 'If Only I Could Hibernate' was the plaintive cry of a young child trying to survive the incredibly cold winter there – it regularly gets to -35C. The story follows the trials and tribulations of a 15-year-old Ulzi; a very bright physics student who is hoping to escape this life through education. This is looking good until his alcoholic mother decides to leave and go back to the country for work. Ulzi is forced to get work to support himself and the other two children – manly illegal child labour cutting down trees. It is looking bad for him when his teacher comes to his rescue and the film ends on a fairly hopeful note, at least in their terms.

The director Zoljargal Purevdash made the film to show how bleak life is for the poor in Mongolia, her answer being education. There is no decent school in the Yurt district and little hope of anything except simple existence, drudgery and alcohol. She certainly showed how difficult life is, though her answer appears to be only for those who can get education; the poverty and pollution continues unabated for those who remain.