Forbidden mountains

“The Forbidden River” is a fascinating three-part documentary about the Amur River and its tributaries. The Amur is a mighty river in East Asia. A substantial portion of it forms the literal border between Russia and China. The river basin includes Mount Paektu at the North Korean border, and parts of Mongolia. Indeed, Amur´s two main tributaries, Onon-Shilka and Kherlen-Argun, both have their sources at the same location in Mongolia: Burkhan Khaldun, the sacred mountain of the Mongols and the supposed birth place of Genghis Khan. (The documentary ends with suitably dramatic footage from this “forbidden mountain”.)

“The Forbidden River” features both animals, plants and people living in or around the Amur river system. The emphasis is on the animals and Nature itself. The fauna is strikingly similar to that of northern Sweden or European Russia, but with Asian admixtures. If you pardon my Euro-centric perspective! Wolves, boars, capercaillies, ravens and bears are part of the same wilderness as tigers, leopards and vultures. As for the humans, the river is flanked by large cities, military outposts, advanced Chinese agriculture and poor Russian pioneer settlements. The third episode takes us to Mongolia and nomadic herdsmen with goats, horses and camels.

I´m not sure if this series has any “message”, per se, but it does communicate the grandeur and sheer vastness of Nature, its cyclical character and the almost super-human strength needed to “subdue” it from humanity´s part. It´s interesting to note that two sacred mountains, Paektu and Burkhan Khaldun, play relatively prominent parts in the documentary. On one, humans try to save the leopard, while the other is off limits to most humans on a permanent basis.

It´s almost as if the mighty river is patiently awaiting the day when it can reclaim all of its former domains…