content: Having lived in China for seven of the past 10 years and having traveled to Mongolia many times over those years, I was surprised to find a movie which reflected the "souls" of the three nationalities I've known here: the Chinese, the Russians, and the Mongolians. In "Close to Eden" the cultures don't clash with each other; rather, they meet and reflect each other's strengths, pains, and (in the end) humanity. It is a story of a Mongolian family as seen through the eyes of the Russian truck driver in a remote area of northern China. Each culture is holding on to its own while it must intereact with the others. The actors are not "slick" or polished; in fact, most of them are not even professional actors; they are Chinese, Mongolian, and Russian people being themselves. And the movie is better for it.