
Accompanying a Nomad Doctor in Mongolia
Shurentsetseg Ganbold treats toothaches, childhood illnesses, and whatever else comes up for the reindeer-herding Tsaatan nomads of Tsaagan Nuur, traveling to her patients by horse or reindeer when the terrain leaves no other option. The film follows her from the village's small medical center out to a house call, showing what her job actually looks like when the nearest hospital is days away. At home her husband stays with their three children and drives her when a road allows it, and the film lingers on that arrangement as its own kind of labor. Along the way a shaman appears, an impromptu eye exam happens mid-visit, and a volleyball game closes out the day. Underneath the house calls is a quieter subject: the Tsaatan's reindeer-herding way of life is shrinking, and Shurentsetseg, who grew up in a nomad family herself, sees her medical work as part of what keeps that culture livable. Chapter markers move briskly between village, family, and patient scenes.