Sobriety is the hallmark of anthropological film – and most contemporary efforts tend to chronicle the sad near-extinction of primitive peoples. Ben Hopkins has made a comedy out of the tribulations of the Pamir Kirghiz, a people that were only a century ago nomads in the midst of Afghanistan, but who have been obliged to move due to the successive disturbance of their territory.
In the early 1980s they were offered a momentous choice: they could either relocate to Alaska, as their American patrons suggested, or go to eastern Turkey. They chose the second destination.
Ben Hopkins has hit on the bright idea of encouraging them to chronicle their own past, contributing to the production design, costumes and film style of this film.
37 Uses for a Dead Sheep is eloquent, touching and funny. I particularly enjoyed the culinary account of Pamir Kirghiz life: yoghurt, it transpires, can be used for many dishes and is also an effective cure for those who are poisoned. Hopkins is a droll narrator with a very British style of understatement.
Mercifully, the film doesn’t have a bad ending. The young of the Pamir Kirghiz wish to move to Istanbul, which is understandable, and they do very well when they get there. The tribe’s village is no more deserted than a contemporary French one. This makes for a faint air of melancholy, easily held in check by the exuberance of the filmmaking.
