A story inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea but set instead on the endless earthen ocean of the central Asian steppe, Ermek Tursunov’s Shal (The Old Man) is Kazakhstan’s entry for the best foreign language film Oscar race. The new film focuses on the old man’s struggle to convey values to his grandson, attempting to connect the old ways with the new. With family tensions simmering beneath the surface and conversations limited to brief exchanges, this is a film about the need to do good without expectations of reward or recognition.