CINEMA AS BRANDING - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 186

plete,' is an eccentric shaman. When Oraz receives a message from god
about a newborn baby-boy (the future Ablai), so does the shaman who
then rushes to warn Galdan Ceren (Doskhan Zholzhaksynov). The Jungar
leader instructs his son, Sharish (Mark Dacascos), to “rip his heart out”
who almost does so, but, in the last moment, Oraz rescues the baby from
a sure death. This newly created dramaturgy personifies an antagonistic
schema of good and evil, driving action throughout the film, which makes
this sequence, including a series of well-composed and well-acted indi-
vidual scenes, part of the story and not just an overture.
The next episode opens with Oraz's arrival in the city of Turkestan.
The camera follows him from a distance showing details of a lively bazaar
as he passes through to enter the khan's quarters. Vali khan (Kuman Tas-
magambekov) barely responds to the incoming guest: he is grieving over
an alleged murder of his son. Oraz unfolds his coat, revealing the baby,
and the khan's face shows a wave of subtle and ingenious emotions cap-
tured in a head-on shot. Feeling overwhelmed, the khan tells Oraz that he
would give him “anything he desires” in appreciation of his service. Once
Oraz voices his request, the khan's feelings shift from disbelief to outrage:
“how dare you ask me to give up my son!” Oraz convinces the khan that
his son would not be safe at home while the camera follows a suspiciously
looking khan's helper, sneaking around in the background as a visual im-
plication of his argument.
The khan's son, Abulmansur (shortened in the film to Mansur), grows
up happily with Oraz and other children in a Kazakh aul . A key scene in
this sequence features Vali khan coming to visit them. Each boy introduces
himself to the khan, calling his given name and his ruw, i.e., the name of
his tribe (“I'm Bolat, a Naiman!”). Mansur and his friend claim the Kazakh
identity instead (“I'm Mansur, a Kazakh!”). The khan, not knowing which
boy in the group is his son, raises his eyebrows. In the traditional Kazakh
society built upon patriarchal principles one's ancestral attachment was a
key to participation in social life: without his family, lineage, and tribe, a
man was deemed to be worthless. The khan's reaction manifests his initial
confusion but, then the camera shows Oraz in all his confidence, and he
seems to read the clue: Mansur's identity as a Töre could not be exposed.
This scene, however, is not merely about identity disguise. For modern
Kazakhs, it evokes a predicament of their cultural identity whereas ances-
tral attachments are treated as a mixed blessing. On the one hand they link
the society to the past helping individual families to establish relations