Made in Mongolia is a 2015 film that was...made in Mongolia, directed by L. Lhagvajargal.
Bodi is a herdsman, a nomad from the Mongolian countryside. He receives notification that his father, whom he has not seen in twenty years, has died, and has left him a house and a lot in the capital of Ulaanbaatar. He comes to the capital with his best buddy Boldoo, who supposedly has some experience of visiting the city, tagging along.
The two country nomads, used to living in yurts on the vast empty plains, are overwhelmed by Ulaanbaatar, a crowded metropolis of over a million people.note They find the house that Bodi has inherited, and are disappointed to find a crumbling one-room concrete structure in the slums. However, it turns out that while the house is most underwhelming, the location is very valuable. The city is rapidly expanding, and a corrupt real estate baron named Hujee wants Bodi's plot of land, along with the rest of the neighborhood, in order to build modern apartment complexes. And he will stop at nothing to get it.
Tropes:
- Chekhov's Gunman: Oyunaa, Hujee's gorgeous wife, whom Boldoo can't stop raving about. It's established that she's kind and decent and that her husband, while not physically abusive, usually behaves quite coldly and rudely towards his wife. At the climax she tells the cops that she is an eyewitness to Hujee's corrupt scheme with the bureaucrat to steal Bodi's land. She also says she's divorcing him.
- The City vs. the Country: The main theme is the culture clash between the simple, decent nomads from the country, and their battle with the evil businessman and his goons. And it's not just Hujee the crook. The cops are indifferent. His brother and (unseen) sister from the city are only too quick to abandon him when the confrontation with Hujee turns ugly. Bodi and Boldoo complain repeatedly about how the culture of Ulaanbaatar is alien and the people there have lost touch with Mongolian tradtional values.
- Comforting Comforter: Oyunaa puts a blanket over her husband Hujee when she thinks he's sleeping. He's actually been strangled into unconsciousness by Bodi and Boldoo.
- Country Mouse: Bodi and Boldoo are slackjawed with astonishment when they come to the crest of a hill and see how huge the city spread below them actually is. Throughout the movie, even when they aren't battling Hujee, they feel uncomfortable in the capital. Bodi's brother Dalai boggles at their country clothing (deels
) and makes them switch to Western clothes. At one point they struggle to find a restaurant, but eventually give up as all the signage is in English. - Corrupt Corporate Executive: When Bodi proves reluctant to sell, Hujee goes straight to issuing threats. Then he sends goons to beat Bodi and Boldoo up and steal their money. When Bodi still won't sell, Hujee resorts to stealing the deed and conspiring with a corrupt bureaucrat to forge a new deed assigning the house and land to him.
- Dramatic Gun Cock: Bodi does this at the end, when the people from the mining company show up at his yurt and try to buy rights to mine on his land in the country.
- Every Man Has His Price: Hujee has bribed a government bureaucrat to help him forge a deed to Bodi's lot.
- Here We Go Again!: Bodi holds on to his father's house but, deciding Ulaanbaatar isn't right for him, he returns to the country. In the last scene still more businessmen show up, this time officials from a mining company who want to start mining on his property. He pulls a gun and tells them to get the hell out, and the film ends.
- Lens Flare: From the flashlights of the mooks who break into the house and assault Bodi and Boldoo.
- Maybe Ever After: A Running Gag is Boldoo's infatuation with Jujee's beautiful wife Oyunaa. At the end he tells Bodi that Oyunaa called him and wants to see him.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Hujee's habit of being a cold, emotionally abusive jerk leads his wife to divorce him, but not before ratting him out to the cops.
- Mooks: Hujee has a whole squad of private security goons that he uses to attack Bodi and Boldoo. And at one point when the guys seem to have made an escape by horse, Hujee makes a phone call and gets some motorcycle goons to chase Bodi and Boldoo down.
- Railroad Plot: Hujee wants to build his apartment complex, and by hook or by crook, he's going to get Bodi's plot of land.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Kicks off the plot, as Bodi is surprised to receive a house from the father he hasn't seen in twenty years.
- Welcome to the Big City: Bodi and Boldoo arrive in the capital and are immediately targeted by a corrupt businessman who is determined to have their land.
