Asiemut

Asiemut chronicles the five-month adventure of French-Canadian couple Olivier Higgins and Mélanie Carrière, who rode their bikes nearly 5,000 miles from the rolling steppes of Mongolia to the lush tropics and crowded cities of India in 2005. The pair start off in good spirits, quickly adapting to the rigors of eight hours of pedaling a day, but as they encounter a number of hardships—ranging from harsh desert sandstorms to the closed border between Mongolia and China—the couple are pushed to the limits of their physical and emotional endurance. Still, Higgins and Carrière admirably support one another, aided by the generosity of locals, including Mongolian nomads who share their yurts and food, a Chinese man at a desert oasis who offers up a fresh watermelon, and a Tibetan man who takes them with him to harvest barley. For each of the major regions the couple navigates, voiceover narration briefly sketches the history, while local music accompanies montages of these exotic and beautiful locations. Unfortunately, the motivation for the trip is never fully explained beyond the somewhat clichéd “we were in search of ourselves,” and—not surprisingly—the hour-shy film only scratches the surface of the history and cultures of the places visited. Even so, Asiemut is still worthwhile, both for the excellent quality of the travelogue images and Higgins and Carrière's notable accomplishment. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (J. Wadland)