With the world that falls down further and further into a All-for-Hemsla’s mentalityIt is difficult not to register social Darwinism in the middle of our human impulse. Just as society built an economic system where we can keep our place among the food chain, we have also grown a winner-take-all philosophy that not only allows, but encourages us to ignore things like nature or old-fashioned tradition, so that we can instead focus on what task we have to perform to get out of the top.
Although there are some global power factors that create such an environment, what the part-nature/partial documentary ”Snow leopard sisters“Quickly shows us that these power games are also available at a very intimate level. But often it is at this level where groundbreaking change can really occur, as attempts at Changes a system Tends to feel more like keeping a wave from crashing in on you. This is the conflict facing half of the duo in the middle of filmTshiring Lhama Lama, a Nepalese preservative whose home region in Dolpo in the Himalaya mountains is also a refuge in some of the last remaining snow leopards in the world. Although estimates claim that there are still 90 snow leopards that still live in Dolpo, as Tshiring is working to keep track of them throughout the documentary, concerns that the actual figure may be much less, which indicates a possible event at the extinction level.
Why does the number of snow leopard observations decrease to such a degree? As it turns out, others have taken up the occupation around these wildlife and will be extreme to invest their claim. Tshiring suggests that this is not uncommon, as she herself grew up and lives in this region and is not stranger to the community of goat shepherds walking on its terrain. What has changed is the enmity they now have against the snow leopards, largely as they slaughter the means that these individuals and families survive. In a particularly frightening incident, a family of shepherds lost over 40 of their warehouse, a fact that would contribute to a child’s death, which then made the father angry and sent to prison. The surviving child, Tenzen, is the second focus for “Snow Leopard Sisters” and half of the mentor/mentee relationship that the film eventually begins to follow.
For as strong as Tshiring’s passion for the snow leopard is, her greatest concern is that her anxiety falls on deaf ears. After all, who cares about less than a hundred wild animals in any distant region in the Himalayas? When Tshiring works to communicate the importance of balance in nature and how the snow leopard has contributed to this balance, she also faces the prevailing wisdom in time, which promotes to treat these animals as mythical animals that need to be taken down. This is the message that is even spread by religious figures like monks, of which many Tshiring and Tenzen turn down as they work to increase preconceived perceptions.
Although Tshiring makes her frustrations known during these conversations, either visible or verbally, Tenzen mostly takes everything in, because her responsibility is to address what it means to be preservation. That being said, her motive for accepting a mentoring with Tshiring has less to do with interest in the snow leopard and more to do with escape the environment she was born into. With her sister’s death and father in prison, Tenzen’s grandfather is now pushing for her to marry a cousin even though he was only 17 years old. Even in remote an area such as the Himalayas, this is still wrinkled, but Tenzen can only express his anxiety through the direct-to-camera crews used by the production. Thankfully, Tenzen can have the wedding delayed two weeks while Tshiring takes her on a training expedition, the idea is that in the future she and her family can use some of the techniques she learns to prevent future snow leopard attacks and grow to live in harmony with them.
What Tshiring aims to show not only Tenzen, but the whole community of shepherds who live throughout the region, is that people do not have to be afraid of the snow leopard and that their presence does not have to stand in the way of their livelihood. Even Tshiring himself is willing to search for these assumed “monsters” while taking care of their infant son, a signal to everything that the danger is only in their heads. After being addressed with their own concerns about these creatures, the practice also allows Tenzen to consider his own voice in matters that have so far worked beyond her control. At the end of the day, both her and Tshiring’s stories are bound with it for the snow leopard because they all feel no other country than this and everyone just tries to exist in this space as good as they can.
Directed by Tshiring’s sister, Sonam Choekyi Lama, as well as Ben Ayers and Andrew Lynch, “Snow Leopard Sisters” is available as both an amazing Nature Doc It captures incredible views and near-and-personal looks at the lean-leopards of violence, as well as an intimate depiction of two opposites gathered to achieve an assignment that works beyond themselves, but actually speaks to what drives their individual sense of empathy and compassion. What is perhaps most revealing is that communities that One Tenzen is still a part of still exist and do so without many of the same modern amenities that a society has become bound by. Although the rest of us show our technological innovation as a display of our own progress as a species, perhaps what “snow leopard sisters” claim is that we are all not better than the snow leopard and if we do not want to be wiped out, we must start working on existing rather than claiming what we believe is ours.
Rating: B.
“Snow Leopard Sisters” premiered at SXSW 2025. It is currently seeking US distribution.
Want to keep you updated on IndieWire’s movie Reviews And critical thoughts? Subscribe here To our recently launched newsletter, in review by David Ehrlich, where our main film critic and Head Review’s editor rounds off the best new reviews and streaming choices along with some exclusive Musings – all only available for subscribers.
