Balloon review – playfulness and melancholy in Tibet’s sheep-herding life | Film
The newest of Pema Tseden’s empathic and intimate portraits of Tibetan pastoral life begins with an intriguing cloudiness. A misty, blurry view of lush farmland accompanied by childlike chatter is seen by the inflated pores and skin of two “balloons”, that are revealed to be two blown-up condoms. This mixture of tranquillity, playfulness and a contact of melancholy turns into the evocative thread that runs by this leisurely movie the place opposing doctrines are explored in an enchanting, non-didactic vogue.
Revolving round a ram-rearing household headed by two patriarchs, the movie is, at first, deceptively male-centric. Dargye (Jinpa), the husband, talks typically of shopping for virile inventory for breeding. Staying within the background, his spouse, Drolkar (Sonam Wangmo), is smilingly docile – but her character slowly turns into the movie’s central determine, and the positioning of contrasting credos. Because the couple have already got three kids, Drolkar is dismayed to find that she’s pregnant once more. She feels strain to get an abortion since mainland China has imposed household planning on its inhabitants, which incorporates contested areas reminiscent of Tibet. However, her husband’s Buddhist beliefs dictate that his lately deceased father is now reincarnated inside Drolkar’s womb.
Whereas armed with loads of social critique, the fantastic thing about Balloon goes past this tug-of-war between modernity and custom. The narrative is filled with circles, from the cheeky balloons to the spherical, reflective floor of a stuffed washbasin on which Drolkar dreamily catches a glimpse of her youthful self. As an alternative of offering simplistic solutions to Drolkar’s dilemma, Balloon ends on a be aware of enigmatic surprise because the characters witness a spectacle among the many clouds. The second is religious and transformative, as if real-life issues have additionally leapt into skinny air.
