Tuyas Hochzeit

Tuya' marriage is among one of the most successful attempts by China's sixth-generation directors to make a good film. Other equally successful ones included the Beijing Bicycle, the Little Red Flowers, etc, which were all made by film directors not quite familiar to Western viewers --- at least not as known as big names like Zhang Yimou.

The film is so real to life and depicts the life on the vast lands of Inner Mongolia so well, that it reminds me of my piecemeal impressions gathered during my trip to Inner Mongolia six years ago --- people were impoverished but so kind, materially backward but spiritually advanced, and the traditional way of life is preserved well.

Yu Nan's performance is really amazing. The plot is so moving and touching that at some points I felt so much involved as to worry about Sengge's death through drilling.

This is a new kind of experience even for Han Chinese to learn about the Mongolian life, and I hope it can be the same kind of revealing experience for audience in the West to understand the ethnic diversity in China --- Mongolians live harmoniously with Han Chinese in the same country called "China", just as it is the case with the other 55 minorities, including Tibetans.

In a nutshell --- Tuya's Marriage indeed deserves the Golden Bear at Berlinale, be it in essence or in name.

This movie makes me think about myself: compare the living conditions between Mongolia and us, I definitely think I am lucky, and thanks to my family. In Mongolia, the child needs to do a lot of work that I did not even try before, and they are lacking water resource. Also, their transportation is poor. Tuya's Marriage also shows their attitude of living, they do not give up, they still want to stay at their home instead of going to the city. Tuya is a strong woman, his husband is paralytic, so she needs to take care of her family by herself; she goes thousands of miles to get water and depasture sheeps every day, even she has physical problems. She divorced her husband in order to give a better condition to her family, she says everyone wants to marry me needs also need to support her ex-husband. The favorite scene in this movie is her child had been trapped in a wolf attack, she comes and says" do not worry, if these wolves attack you, I will eat them and leave these sheep here, I am gonna take you home". On this movie, I see a great mom, wife and a hot heart person.

One of he most interesting films from chines mainland. There are no stunt fights, no killings. This is a human story with human complexities and how a strong woman tries to solve her problem. He enduring love and affections for her disabled husband and her children constitute the main theme. In the background there is another actor, THE LANDSCAPE. Even though the steppe land with brushes and those mountains are harsh to the inhabitants, on screen it looks breathtaking. The film shows how women were doing back-breaking chores(literally in this case) for ages for which man has to be thankful and gracious to her. An absorbing film to watch.

This is an exotic film that recalls other indigenous Mongolian tales by Byambasuren Davaa such as The Story of the Weeping Camel (2003) or The Cave of the Yellow Dog (2005). It also has much in common with the Tibetan film Himalaya (1999) and rural Iranian cinema. The story, like that in each of these other films, is very simple - a woman's husband is incapacitated and she seeks a new man who will support the old.

The cinematography is beautiful with the harshness of the inner Mongolian landscape captured aesthetically. Dialogue is sparse, and the film is very observational, documenting a way of life that is gradually receding into the past. The herding and riding of animals, the digging of wells, the visits from potential suitors and other aspects of rural life are nicely captured, and contrast against the oncoming tide of modernity.

Thematically, the film has more in common with Breaking the Waves (1996), my favourite Lars von Trier film. There is both humour and heartbreak as the story unfolds. I didn't find the film quite as effective as Weeping Camel but a nice bit of cultural diversity that's worth seeing.

In my opinion, I do not believe that Tuya's Marriage is close to the movie I would recommend to everyone. The reason being is that it is slow paced, and does not truly go with any genre that I have dealt with in movies. But, this is why I am so intrigued by it, even though it is slow, it touched on important topics in world geography and people's lives and how they are affected when fate is unkind. I believe that this movie, even though it is not one I would recommend to everyone, is something that truly shows hardships and problems that happen in Inner Mongolia (which is situated in China). This movie does not really fall into a specific genre outside of extreme drama, but it is hard to realize this unless you take time after watching it to ponder the plot and the points made inside it. I think this is a movie more for someone looking to widen their eyes to problems in the world, and that want to understand how it can be in a certain place if tragedy strikes.