Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

lasttimeisaw An BAFTA nominated documentary tells the crowd-pleasing story of a 13-year-old Kazakh girl Aisholpan who contends for becoming an eagle hunter (reckoned as a man's vocation) through the help of her hunter father Rys Nurgaiv. Narrated by Daisy Ridley, the film opens with the grandiose landscape of Altai Mountains with a prefatory ceremony of releasing an eagle to its natural habitat after serving a seven-year training stint (a ritual abided by all the eagle hunters in the light of their reverence to the nature and the species), then dwells on the central story in the chronological order, while glancing through Aisholpan's school life and her family's nomad traditions. Once Aisholpan expresses her wish to become an eagle huntress herself, to follow the family's hallowed heredity, it is worth noting that her parents' wholesome espousal is not because there is no male heir in the household to carry on the torch, she is the eldest child of three (two girls, one boy), so remarkably, it is purely derived from love and support without any hidden agendas, as her mother comments, a girl should have her own right to choose what she wants to do. After a perilous outing near a mountainside cliff to nab her own eaglet. Aisholpan is officially geared up to become a real eagle huntress under Rys' training and her grandfather's blessing (although the training process feels a shade under-presented).Meanwhile, first-time director Otto Bell doesn't intend to set the bar of obstacles too high, barring for the discontent from some senior male eagle hunters addressing bromides, there is no hindrance in Aisholpan entering the region's annual Golden Eagle festival as the first female and youngest participant, and without too much pains, she snatches the first place in front of the awe-struck audience and fellow contestants. When the fanfare settles, the real challenge transpires as Aisholpan and Rys embark on a fox-hunting journey in the wintry terrains of slippery frozen rivers and knee-deep snows, which will ultimately qualify her as a bona-fide eagle huntress, the film aptly brings down its curtain after Aisholpan's golden eagle conquers its first prey in tandem with Sia's infectious closing-credits song ANGEL BY THE WINGS. Undeniably, this smoothly orchestrated tale somewhat runs to betray its staged M.O. of re-enacting Aisholpan's victorious trajectory than recording these events in real-life synchronicity, but bearing in mind the daunting task to capture he stupendous eagle-swooping momentum, one might find this compromise unavoidable. Be that as it may, THE EAGLE HUNTRESS is a massively appealing ethnic reportage even its leitmotif appears pretty generic, but on the other hand, viewers should be glad the filmmakers haven't elevated their subject onto the stratosphere of progressive feminism, to accommodating a more westernized taste, which does speak volumes of their integrity to preserve Aisholpan and her family's unalloyed affinity with the awe-inspiring nature and tradition, to whom, that is what really matters.

Antonius Block I'll start by saying the cinematography by Simon Niblett is extraordinary. The scenery is gorgeous to begin with, sure, but it takes real skill to capture the shots he did, and that's what first and foremost makes this a film well worth seeing. The storytelling and pace from Director Otto Bell is also engaging, and it's such a unique tale. And who can forget the heartwarming relationship Aisholpan Nurgaiv has with her father Rys, both playing themselves? They are amazing people. There is a feminist message that is empowering to girls here, and it's a movie suitable for all ages. The film did take some heat for being described as a documentary, and while it's based on true events, it feels staged in portions and is a story told after the fact. Some get quite bent out of shape over that, and to them I would just say get over it and enjoy it for what it is – a beautiful movie.

Josh Teggert Despite the controversy surrounding the legitimacy of this documentary (notably being omitted from the Oscar nominations in its respective category, while still being tipped as a potential front runner), The Eagle Huntress is a decent release that follows the story of (supposedly) the first eagle huntress in Asia, Aisholpan Nurgaiv. Nurgaiv is decidedly keen on entering a local eagle hunting festival at aged 13, before then venturing out into the mountains to become a fully-fledged eagle huntress.Being an eagle huntress entails training a three-month-old eaglet (after taking it from its nest that is), with the eventual outcome of being able to successfully hunt with it, before letting it go after seven years to complete the "circle of life".  Undeniably, this is a challenging way of life that requires hard work and years to master. Yet the film portrays Aisholpan in a light that makes it feel like she is rather too conveniently good at the work and that she was always capable of achieving the end goal, thus it struggles to truly resonate when the all-important pinnacle moments arrive. Whilst it is fair to assume Aisholpan possesses some natural talent, we rarely see her fail or train with negative outcomes. Exploring this side would certainly have made the film more relatable, and although Aisholpan is indeed personable, and there are some moments with a heartening timbre, it is unrealistic to think she didn't have much of a challenge in her path towards becoming the first eagle huntress. That is, it is unrealistic to think that there were no other challenges, disregarding the challenge of gender. It is established that eagle hunting is very much a male profession, an aspect battled with constantly throughout the film, which even manages to have comedic impact at times, but unfortunately this gets  increasingly repetitive by the end and is not seen to contribute towards any definitive conclusion.  That said, it is wonderful to watch Aisholpan and her father endeavour through the magnificent landscapes of Asia, as it is a superbly filmed documentary. This is most definitively one of the film's strongest attributes, as it feels often that it relies very much on nature to tell the story. Arguably it gets away with this, as the story is easy to follow, yet  largely inconsequential; as part of western society, it is pre-determined exactly what we are meant to think about Aisholpan's ambitions. While on the one hand there is an absorbing undertone of female empowerment, there is little else to try and convince us that the conclusion will not be precisely what we expect. The Eagle Huntress is a visual spectacle, full of emotion yet not as resonant as it  potentially could have been as a short film.

alin0791 'A rousing feminist adventure every family needs to see????" The headline just killed it for me...Libtards... But,i did watch it,to give it a chance despite the feminazi comment...It was wonderful! PS: feminazi,attention:watch your language ,stay impartial,or you will alienate the majority of us that are half libtards,half conservative... So,no spoilers , and i need to have 10 lines///'A rousing feminist adventure every family needs to see????" The headline just killed it for me...Libtards... But,i did watch it,to give it a chance despite the feminazi comment...It was wonderful! PS: feminazi,attention:watch your language ,stay impartial,or you will alienate the majority of us that are half libtards,half conservative... So,no spoilers , and i need to have 10 lines///