Mongolian Ping Pong

Mongolian Ping Pong is a film about three boys who try to make a journey to Beijing from their home in Mongolia.  The main character, Bilike, is the young boy who discovers a ping pong ball along a creek.  He is told by his Grandmother that the ping pong ball is a glowing ball from Heaven.  The ping pong ball never lit up, so Bilike and his friends became skeptical.  The three boys find out the real truth when they see on TV that the ping pong ball is the national ball of China.  After learning this, the boys set out on a long journey to Beijing, China to return the ball.  Unfortunately, their lack of survival skills causes them to turn back shortly after they start their journey.  When the boys' parents found out about their little "adventure," they punished them severely.  The mother of Bilike took the ping pong ball from him and smashed it.

I realized very shortly that this movie does not relate to American culture by any means.  The unique lifestyle of the Mongolian families in the movie show that they would be considered poor for American standards, but they seemed to be living their lives to the fullest.  The only part of the film ever so slightly resembles western culture is when on the boys uses a gas-powered scooter to get around, which resembles some of the vehicles that Americans use today.  Even though this foreign film isn't my favorite type of movie, there were still parts that were enticing, which made me enjoy it.