User Reviews

Mongolia is in a gold rush...but none of its going to the Mongols. Foreign companies have carved up the territory, and the only way the locals can get it is by sneaking in and making wildcat mines. Which is where our story starts. This mind-boggling film shows a bunch of good ol' boys spending a year digging a hole in the ground with a beat-up winch, second hand drills - and mostly, their bare hands. It's a dirty, dangerous, and completely illegal job (the cameraman had to be lowered into the mineshaft upside down, it's that narrow. Meanwhile, they're using dynamite with old fuses & prayer). But as you get to know them, you get to love them. From the big boss (his boast is "I will show my belly in Germany") to the lone woman who has to cook & wash for all of them & put up with their dirty jokes, this is an astonishing portrayal of bottom feeder free enterprise. And remember - none of them are getting paid. They're all banking on finding something (literally) at the end.