‘Bride Kidnapping’ Review: A Tough, Handsome, Scathing Indictment of a Barbaric Kyrgyz Custom

variety.com:

Jessica Kiang Near the beginning and near the end of Mirlan Abdykalykov‘s beautifully made but tough-minded, enraging “Bride Kidnapping” there are literally mirroring shots of the main character, 19-year-old Umut (Akak Berdibekova).

At the start, she gazes at her reflection in modest pleasure as she gets dressed: a lovely young woman, with a ready, dimpled smile, looking forward to the day and to a simple but fulfilling future as a nurse.

In a matter of a few days she will be again at that wardrobe mirror, but her demeanor will be entirely changed. The title is a spoiler as to the grim fate that will intervene, and it’s one that claims an estimated 12,000 Kyrgyz women and girls every year.

But even if its only effect were the extinguishing of Umut’s soft radiance, Abdykalykov’s hard-edged but intensely compassionate portrait would make that tragedy enough.