Near and Far
by
Howard Schumann
Winner of the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival,
the fast disappearing world of nomadic sheep herders in Kazakhstan is
dramatized in the part fictional, part documentary film Tulpan.
Directed by Sergei Dvortsevoy, Tulpan is the story of an ex-sailor
seeking to marry the only available woman in the area so that he can
fulfill his dream of tending his own flock. The narrative, however,
is secondary to the dramatic on-camera birth of a lamb and the spectacular
scenery of the steppes. Much of the film takes place in the tent house
called a yurt that is shared by Asa (Askhat Kuchinchirekov), his brother-in-law
Ondas (Ondasyn Besikbasov), his older sister Samal (Samal Yeslyamova),
and three children.
The smallest
boy is an absolute delight running and shouting as he plays with sticks
and his pet turtle. His older brother has the uncanny knack of repeating
the news broadcasts he hears on the radio word for word, reciting them
daily to a curious Ondas. The only shrill note in the film is the constant
high-pitched singing of Asa’s niece Maha (Mahabbat Turganbayeva)
who sings the same drone-like folk song six or seven times. As the film
opens, Asa, his best friend Boni (Tulepbergen Baisakalov), and Ondas
visit the family of Tulpan, a young woman whom they want Asa to marry.
In southern Kazakhstan, the terrain is so forbidding that a herdsman
must have a wife to do the chores while he tends his sheep, and Ondas
considers Asa too irresponsible and immature to be a herdsman without
a wife.
At the family
gathering (Tulpan is hidden by a curtain) Asa makes up stories about
his adventures in the Russian navy and how he fought an octopus in a
life and death struggle. Tulpan’s parents, however, are unimpressed
and later tell Asa that their daughter (who is never seen in the film)
has rejected him because his ears are too big. This leads to a comic
comparison of Asa’s ears to a picture of Prince Charles. Discouraged,
Asa threatens to leave the steppe and move to the city with Boni, but
is reluctant to give up either his dream of marrying Tulpan or learning
about animal husbandry.
As Asa tries
to prove himself to Ondas, whose herd of sheep is plagued by a series
of mysterious deaths, he assists in the birthing of a lamb and meets
his severest test. Tulpan is a natural showcase for the region,
and cinematographer Joly Dylewska captures the swirling dust and the
stark landscape with striking success. One of the best scenes is that
of a bandaged camel placed in a motorcycle sidecar by a veterinarian
(Esentai Tulendiev) while the mother paces in the background. Not a
dry National Geographic Special, Tulpan has ethnic and pop
music, adorable children, moments of wicked humor, and an unforced naturalism
that is captivating.
*
Carrying
on in the rich tradition of famed Berlin Philharmonic conductors Von
Bulow, Nikisch, Furtwangler, Celibidache, von Karajan, and Claudio Abbado,
Sir Simon Rattle’s enormous talent and charismatic personality
are in full view in Thomas Grube’s moving documentary Trip
to Asia: The Quest for Harmony. The film was shot during
the orchestra’s concert tour in Asia that brought them to Beijing,
Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Tokyo. While it provides only
a superficial sense of the destinations, the power of the music to touch
us is palpable and the intimate look at the musicians’ and their
personal struggles is compelling.
The Berlin
Philharmonic, one of the premier orchestras in the world, is a self-governing
public foundation with the power to make its own artistic and financial
decisions, a condition insisted on by Rattle when he signed in 2002,
and this decision-making power is evident when we learn that several
orchestra members are on a lengthy probation and will be voted in or
out when the tour comes to an end. It becomes quite clear that simply
having a love for music and being technically impeccable is not all
that is required. There is that elusive fit with the orchestra that
is hard to define but becomes clear after an extended tour.
Trip
to Asia features powerful performances of music by Richard Strauss
(Ein Heldenleben, A Hero’s Life), Ludwig von
Beethoven (Eroica Symphony), and the modern composer Thomas
Ades, whose Asyla is introduced. Grube supplements the concerts
with interviews with the musicians who reflect on how well they cope
with the competition, the desire for recognition, the loneliness of
hours and hours of solo practice, and the enormous pressure for excellence
they face every time they go on stage. Some speak to the camera and
talk about how they were always loners and never felt accepted at school
and how their instrument allowed them to offer something unique to others
and to take pride in who they are, perhaps for the first time.
The 126 musicians of the Philharmonic know from experience how crucial
it is to subordinate their individual personalities to the greater good
of an organization, and the documentary is as much about the aspirations
and self-doubts of individual performers as it is about the orchestra
and its artistic achievements. Rattle is intense as he talks about what
it is like to perform in an orchestra steeped in its own rules and traditions.
“All of us,” he says, “go through things that demands
a pulling together of our disparate parts. The minute you start thinking
it’s about you, you’re in crisis. When you don’t believe
that the music is something much greater, you have a problem.”
The grind
on the musicians is evident and also on the camera crew. As the director
describes it, “The team has gotten only three hours of sleep a
night since our arrival in China. We’re beat, not just because
of the time difference, but because we rise before the orchestra and
go to sleep after they do.” The film documents the grueling travel,
the rehearsals and the master classes, the stresses that build up before
a performance and, for some, not knowing if they will spend their life
with the orchestra or move on to a different career. The high point
of the film is the enthusiastic reception in a public square in Taipei
where 30,000 people cheer the orchestra. After that, the final stop
in Tokyo seems anti-climactic and the end of the tour is finally heartbreaking
for those who learn they are not accepted as revealed in the closing
credits.
©2009 Howard Schumann
CineScene
