Bride Kidnapping in Krygyzstan

In 1994, the ancient marriage tradition of bride kidnapping was outlawed in Krygyzstan, a former Soviet Republic in Central Asia, but that hasn't stopped the stakeouts, snatchings, and forced marriages of one in three rural ethnic women in this region. Filmmaker Petr Lom, a professor of political philosophy who became fascinated by this little-known custom while researching Islamic extremism in Krygyzstan, manages to get an inside view of four such abductions--all captured in real time (plus the after-the-fact story of Kyal, a woman who committed suicide following her abduction)--with sensitively conducted interviews with the victims and their perpetrators providing considerable insight into a culturally-specific tradition that sanctions the oppression of women. In the first segment, a young girl named Ainagul, is abducted from the street by Jamankul and his male relatives. Back home, Jamankul's female relatives surround Ainagul to prevent her escape; however, when she refuses to relent, amidst tears and anguish, they finally release her—but not without a lifelong curse on her and her future offspring. In a follow-up interview Ainagul imagines the life she would have led with her captor's family tending sheep in the mountains: “I'd have been a sheep, too.” Nurkyz is kidnapped the same way, yet despite a tearful protest eventually decides to stay with her abductors, claiming she's optimistic she'll be happy one day: “Our life is about kidnapping, accepting, and living on.” Kairgul, who is taken by the dapper Ulan and his clan, fortunately has a boyfriend and parents willing to intervene on her behalf, forcing Ulan to turn his sight on Gulmira, a more willing subject, who accepts her fate without reservation. In a follow-up interview four months later she and Ulan appear to be genuinely happy and are expecting a child. Of particular interest here are the conspiring family members, from the men who claim bride kidnapping as a “manly” exploit to the complicit female relatives who surround the captor like a pack of dogs. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (A. Cantú)