Review of Tuya's Marriage (2006) by Sonia H — 05 Apr 2008

[font=Century Gothic]In "Tuya's Marriage," Tuya(Yu Nan) not only has to take care of her crippled husband, Bater(Bater), and their two children, but also their flock of sheep. Things only get worse when helping a neighbor, Shenge(Shenge), who is trapped beneath his truck, she throws out her back, risking paralysis if she continues with her arduous tasks. So, the only thing to do is to divorce her husband and get married again. But instead of letting her sister-in-law take care of him, she has a sole condition for her potential new husband that he also has to take care of the old husband.[/font].

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[font=Century Gothic]It is not that life is tough in Inner Mongolia where "Tuya's Marriage" is filmed.(But the consumption of alcohol is much higher than normal...) It is just that there is so very little room for error, due to a hard landscape and a natural isolation that might mean a long wait if something calamitous did happen.(A series of chance meetings evens the odds somewhat but clashes with the movie's naturalism.) This setting leads to some tough choices where sentiment might not otherwise come into it but it does for Tuya. The audience is left wondering if Tuya did make the right decision. That sort of ambiguity is definitely the right choice for any filmmaker.[/font].