Perhaps the director has fudged it a bit, but his intention was to make a beautiful film about one girl from a place and a culture we know little about. That he has done.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2017

Can we call this documentary, or is it some kind of hybrid, when so much of it is constructed for the camera?

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 15, 2017

A soaring, sweet documentary that welcomes its audience into an unexpected new arena.

| Original Score: B+ | Jan 2, 2017

There's no doubt about the veracity of Aisholpan's inspirational story. She exists, and she's a champion in every sense. But many sequences in the film appear planned out, even staged.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 31, 2016

DOP Simon Niblett's camera seems to fly over the steppe as dozens of eagle hunters gather for the national championship where this well-loved daughter and classic sports underdog must prove herself in a stirring contest.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 27, 2016

It's spectacular at best; watchable even at worst.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 23, 2016

This lovely ode to change (which gets you thinking, not just about gender but all hierarchies) contains two powerful youngsters. It should really be called The Eaglet and her Girl.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 18, 2016

Whether or not the storytelling here is disingenuous, there remains a manipulative quality to the film-making that is, in the end, off-putting.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 18, 2016

Otto Bell's beautiful, cinematically innovative documentary ... strikes at the very heart of our primal instincts to strive and succeed.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 16, 2016

A vivifying, sometimes inspiring watch ...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 15, 2016

This is a very nicely filmed piece of work.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 15, 2016

With a childish pink bow in her hair, Aisholpan proves to be the most unexpected heroine: small, smiley, strong as a mountain pony and filled with quiet determination.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 15, 2016

The Eagle Huntress is a remarkable documentary, one that combines superb National Geographic-style photography with a storyline that plays out like a real-life folktale with a feminist undertow.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 14, 2016

Aisholpan is one of life's trailblazers - a feminist pioneer.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 13, 2016

he Eagle Huntress is a rousing adventure and a soaring testament to the strength of the human spirit, this vibrant, electrifying teenager an inspirational role model all of Mongolia should be more than proud of.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 30, 2016

The film's feminist message is hardly subtle, but it's still effective. And the peak into the nomad lifestyle - where an eagle just sits on a perch in the living room - is fascinating.

| Original Score: B- | Nov 23, 2016

The outline of a modern feminist epic is always there in the background. What's surprising is how fresh and charming the movie manages to be.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 21, 2016

Factor in the feel-good story, Bell's bracing cinematography, and his meticulous observance of the villagers' customs and environments, and the film becomes a multilayered exploration of dignity, perseverance, and progress.

| Nov 17, 2016

Documentarian Otto Bell's titular huntress - a 13-year-old Kazakh named Aisholpan who hails from a family boasting generations of champion (male) eagle hunters - is impossible not to like and/or root for.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 11, 2016

Bell translates another culture's traditions into the tired platitudes of a second-rate Disney animation.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Nov 10, 2016