Directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy. 12A cert, Light House, Dublin, 100min

THIS STUDIOUSLY naturalistic drama from Kazakhstan features a scene every bit as spectacular as the annihilations in 2012. Using just one watchful take – no CGI here – the film follows the birth of a lamb from initial dilation to final squelchy expulsion. It’s the disgusting miracle of life in all its look-away-now glory.

This is, it should be said, one of the few ugly moments in a canny amalgam of anthropological treatise and folk drama. The action follows a young herdsman, recently returned from the navy, as he attempts to win the hand of a stubborn neighbour.

We begin with the hero being introduced to the girl and trying to impress her with tales of strange ports and stranger sea creatures. The unmoved maiden rejects his advances largely because of his big ears. Undaunted, he returns with a photo of Prince Charles on his wedding day. What’s the problem? This guy’s lugs are bigger than his and he’s an “American” prince. It’s that sort of film.

Tulpanis as much about the plains, the sky and the wind as it is about its unusual characters and their everyday problems. It may sound like hard work – what with all the sheep being born and so forth – but, the director makes sure every scene of nomadic adversity is balanced by a reasonably broad gag.

Endure the bovine obstetrics and you will be rewarded with a scene featuring a speeding tractor and Rivers of Babylonby Boney M. That seems like a fair exchange.