The Mysterious Tulpan

On September 10, Ragtag Cinema showed Tulpan (2008) by Sergei Dvortsevoy, which chronicled an important period in the life of sailor turned nomadic herder Asa. The film is set in Kazakhstan, a country that is severely under-represented in the scope of international cinema, so much so that the only film anyone could think of from Kazakhstan was Borat and it wasn't even filmed there. Tulpan, being a film about a culture most people know nothing about, did a good job of describing the life of a nomadic herdsman. Through its supporting character it showed the desire to leave the poverty and depression induced from the unstable profession, to purse what seemed like a better life in the city. The youngest of Asa's nephews was always pantomiming riding around on an object, asking his uncle when they could go into the city. His older brother was always listening to the radio from the more civilized world, and reporting back to his father all of the exciting news. Their sister was constantly fighting to be allowed to sing, and her songs always had hopeful melodies that seemed to belong to a much happier place than the hungersteppe they lived on. All of these children were searching for something more, yearning to leave the life they had to venture into the romanticized city. The same could be said for Asa's friend Boni who was always talking about going to school in the city, not so much for the education, but for the abundance of women, a sharp contrast to the sparse females on the steppe.
The main characters struggle, however, was much more universal. His dream throughout the film was to get married to Tulpan, a character who was never introduced to the audience visually aside from the back of her head and drawings of a tulip (which is what Tulpan translates to in English) that occurred in Asa's modified drawings of his dream life. He wanted to marry her so he could get his own flock and become a herdsman independent of his brother-in-law and sister. At one point it seems as though Asa is finally going to give into the desire to leave the steppe, which is marked not only by his packed suitcase and short car ride, but also by the birth of the first lamb that didn't die. Asa delivers the lamb with his own hands and then runs to Tulpan, only to find she has left for the city. Once he tries to leave, however, Asa finds himself drawn to home and quickly stops the car and returns to his extended family. This idea of being close to family and familiarity verses chasing after a dream land far beyond where you grew up, is one that most cultures identify with because family is often valued more than anything else.
After the showing of the film, there was a discussion in which I learned that Dvortsevoy shot most of the film documentary style by not giving the children any scripts, and filming both the animals and the storms as they naturally occurred. The adult actors were given a very basic script, and it was only followed about 20% of the time. To me, this seemed to give the film a very real feeling. The adult actors were good at ignoring the camera and making the viewer feel more like an observer than an interrogator, which happens in many documentaries, while the children and animals were so truthful it pushed the film even further into a flawless representation of reality.
Overall the film was very impressive. It was educational as well as entertaining and well done.