Initially one could even laugh at how obvious the title of Mirlan Abdykalykov‘s film is. By the end, however, there is little chance anyone for any kind of jesting, as the presentation of this truly horrifying ‘custom’, where women are kidnapped in the middle of the street to be married forcibly, which actually happens once every hour as the ending titles informs, is as impactful as it is realistic.
Bride Kidnapping is screening at Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival in cooperation with Alternativa Film
Egemen, who makes a living by stealing scrap metal along with his friend, Azamat, has a secret lover, Meyerim. She was kidnapped, married, and then divorced with her daughter, so Egemen is unable to proudly introduce Meyerim to his family. Umut is a young girl, almost constantly smiling, who has dreams to get a full time job and help her parents financially, even bringing her father back, who has gone away from Kyrgyzstan to get work. As the movie starts, Umut has just gotten a part time job as a nurse in a local hospital, where she also timidly flirts with a young Youtuber who has come into town to record pollution, but ends up in a hospital bed instead. In the meantime, Egemen’s family pushes him to get married.
Evidently, what will happen in the film is essentially evident from the beginning. This, however, does not prevent Mirlan Abdykalykov at all from presenting his theme and the context of which such actions take place, in the most eloquent and impactful fashion.
To begin with, the way he highlights the setting of the small town is quite impressive. Everyone is poor and the rather cold setting frequently looks like a dystopian of sorts. Egemen and Azamat steal iron wherever they can find it, and sell it for scraps to make a living. A local woman who is running a sauna to barely survive, is burning whatever garbage she can find in the furnace to make it hot, significantly contributing to the pollution problem in the area. As her neighbor has started to complain, she also has to bribe the local police to allow her to continue. Umut’s mother barely makes a living, essentially waiting for her daughter to contribute properly, while her husband has been away for some time, working abroad with no particular success though. The hospital in the area looks more like a home infirmary, while the whole setting appears as if from decades in the past, a notion which the director breaks rather intelligently by introducing the young YouTuber.
However, even in such circumstances, intense patriarchy and the concept of ‘what will the neighbours say’ still exists and is quite prevalent. The scenes in Egemen’s house highlight the fact quite eloquently, as his sisters insist on him getting married, since, otherwise, they will have to cook and do his laundry in perpetuity. However, the pressure he receives as much as the role his father plays, highlights that the concept of bride kidnapping has another side, where the perpetrators are also victims, although definitely not to a point to justify their action even to the smallest degree.
Where the movie truly finds its apogee, though, is the kidnapping scene, where Akak Berdibekova as Umut gives a truly astonishing performance for the whole of the extensive sequence, and the fighting with the women of Egemen’s family being one of the most shocking scenes we have seen recently. The sequence also makes another comment, as the fact that women who suffered similar fate apply the same to another is as shocking as the deed itself, essentially highlighting the moral bankruptcy the aforementioned circumstances have led the people to. Even more shocking, however, is what follows, with the reaction of Umut’s mother being stupefying.
Jantai Kydyraliev’s cinematography is somewhat problematic in the beginning, with the extensive close-ups not making sense, but his approach becomes better as the movie progresses, with the final scenes, and his no-punches-pulled performance being top-notch. Evgeny Krokhmalenko’s editing results in a mid-tempo which becomes much faster close to the end, suiting the style of the story nicely. Also of note here is the fact that Abdykalykov manages to include some moments of humor in the film, in a way that does not feel disconnected from the rather dramatic narrative, in another testament to his prowess as director.
“Bride Kidnapping” is a truly impactful film that highlights a despicable custom in all its appalling glory, while presenting a small society that is tragically doomed to self-sabotage due to poorness, intense patriarchy, lack of education and essentially hope.
