I watched Tulpan for the second time last night. It seems to me the movie is really about how different people react to wrenching changes, mostly by nursing a fantasy of some sort. Among other things Tulpan documents the _current_ way people and sheep use that steppe, which under the surface isn't very nice.
As the "yurt" is a touchstone with the past, it's commonly retained even though it doesn't actually make much sense any more. These herdsmen move very infrequently (if at all), and these yurts are typically surrounded by outbuildings that look pretty permanent. What good really is a moving house if you don't move?
The person who insists Asa must be married before getting any sheep is "Comrade Boss" (not brother-in-law Ondas - Asa and Ondas have their differences, but the assignment of sheep is not among them). Ondas and his family cannot move without approval from the Boss. The Boss controls the only veterinarian and most of the vehicles. The Boss tells Ondas he's responsible for every stillborn lamb. All this adds up to the current economic pattern in that area: herds of sheep belong to non-resident owners, who "contract" their care to the actual herdsmen. The herdsmen live sort of like their ancestors, but don't actually own most of the sheep, seldom move, and don't have all that much freedom.
Daughter Beke (and also to some extent her mother and Asa's sister Samal) appear to cope with the dichotomy between the idealized life and the actual life of a herdsman's family by rather defiantly singing lots of folk songs. Perhaps the folk songs are just the most visible sign of fantasizing the old ways.
Tractor driver Boni survives the dichotomy by diving deeply into a fantasy pastiche of music, sex, and wealth. He's the conduit to the "outside", and so is more worldly than the herdsmen he serves. But by more objective standards he's woefully uninformed too. At one point he speaks of bypassing the city and going directly to Sakhalin Island. Never mind that Sakhalin Island is in a different country thousands of miles away through several other countries.
Asa appears to survive the dichotomy by remaining completely unaware of it. He admires a solar panel in a magazine, without ever realizing no herdsman could possibly afford such a thing. He admires a motorcycle in the magazine too, but without ever reflecting such a thing would be useless without a reasonably accessible supply of gasoline. He compliments Tulpan on wanting to go to college at the same time he wants her to marry him, without any sense that it might be difficult to do both. The scene he draws on his collar is of an idealized herdsman with healthy children (not the half-crazy kids he actually lives with), his own herd of sheep, more wealth than any real herdsman ever had, and the freedom to move wherever he wishes whenever he wishes.
Brother-in-law Ondas clings to the old ways even though they don't quite add up any more. He invests a lot of time and effort in quixotic visits to Tulpan's yurt that are doomed from the start. He doesn't know his "neighbors". Although they politely receive him, they apparently weren't ever expecting a marriage proposal visit and don't know quite how to deal with one. Ondas's gift looks like an electric light fixture -with lots and lots of little pieces to keep clean- intended for an elegant room. It wouldn't be of any use in a yurt with dust (and a little smoke?) and no electricity. And he talks of giving a large number of sheep too, never mind that the sheep don't seem to be his to give, or that talking of a large number of sheep in the context of marriage seems irrelevant.
The scenic views of far away horizons and sparse vegetation portray what I'd call a semi-desert. Just try to imagine a "tulip" sprouting up between those tufts. If you can imagine it at all, it will look horribly out of place. Likewise the tulip Asa draws into the scene on his collar is in a different style and colors than the rest. It's added on, but not integrated.
As the "yurt" is a touchstone with the past, it's commonly retained even though it doesn't actually make much sense any more. These herdsmen move very infrequently (if at all), and these yurts are typically surrounded by outbuildings that look pretty permanent. What good really is a moving house if you don't move?
The person who insists Asa must be married before getting any sheep is "Comrade Boss" (not brother-in-law Ondas - Asa and Ondas have their differences, but the assignment of sheep is not among them). Ondas and his family cannot move without approval from the Boss. The Boss controls the only veterinarian and most of the vehicles. The Boss tells Ondas he's responsible for every stillborn lamb. All this adds up to the current economic pattern in that area: herds of sheep belong to non-resident owners, who "contract" their care to the actual herdsmen. The herdsmen live sort of like their ancestors, but don't actually own most of the sheep, seldom move, and don't have all that much freedom.
Daughter Beke (and also to some extent her mother and Asa's sister Samal) appear to cope with the dichotomy between the idealized life and the actual life of a herdsman's family by rather defiantly singing lots of folk songs. Perhaps the folk songs are just the most visible sign of fantasizing the old ways.
Tractor driver Boni survives the dichotomy by diving deeply into a fantasy pastiche of music, sex, and wealth. He's the conduit to the "outside", and so is more worldly than the herdsmen he serves. But by more objective standards he's woefully uninformed too. At one point he speaks of bypassing the city and going directly to Sakhalin Island. Never mind that Sakhalin Island is in a different country thousands of miles away through several other countries.
Asa appears to survive the dichotomy by remaining completely unaware of it. He admires a solar panel in a magazine, without ever realizing no herdsman could possibly afford such a thing. He admires a motorcycle in the magazine too, but without ever reflecting such a thing would be useless without a reasonably accessible supply of gasoline. He compliments Tulpan on wanting to go to college at the same time he wants her to marry him, without any sense that it might be difficult to do both. The scene he draws on his collar is of an idealized herdsman with healthy children (not the half-crazy kids he actually lives with), his own herd of sheep, more wealth than any real herdsman ever had, and the freedom to move wherever he wishes whenever he wishes.
Brother-in-law Ondas clings to the old ways even though they don't quite add up any more. He invests a lot of time and effort in quixotic visits to Tulpan's yurt that are doomed from the start. He doesn't know his "neighbors". Although they politely receive him, they apparently weren't ever expecting a marriage proposal visit and don't know quite how to deal with one. Ondas's gift looks like an electric light fixture -with lots and lots of little pieces to keep clean- intended for an elegant room. It wouldn't be of any use in a yurt with dust (and a little smoke?) and no electricity. And he talks of giving a large number of sheep too, never mind that the sheep don't seem to be his to give, or that talking of a large number of sheep in the context of marriage seems irrelevant.
The scenic views of far away horizons and sparse vegetation portray what I'd call a semi-desert. Just try to imagine a "tulip" sprouting up between those tufts. If you can imagine it at all, it will look horribly out of place. Likewise the tulip Asa draws into the scene on his collar is in a different style and colors than the rest. It's added on, but not integrated.