Sem gi jurwa

Source: Bhutan times

Written by Administrator

January 31, 2010: This latest Kesang P. Jigme film, Sem gi Jurwa, intimately portrays a tragic drama of a 17-year-old Lhazeen’s (Sonam Wangmo) search for her mother. The journey takes her to Thimphu where the greater part of the story begins to unfold.

The story goes back when Lhazeen’s parents, Lhasey (Tshering Phuntsho) and Seday (Pema Yangki), start their lives in Thimphu. Lhasey is posted as a teacher in Thimphu. New places bring new circumstances, new feelings, and new crossroads. As they struggle to live within and outside their lives, their relationship grows in complexity and depth and their marriage begins to crack. The couple painfully discovers each other as time goes by. Subtle changes of emotional temperature and the differences in the characters create a delicate relationship and largely regulate this domestic drama.

Lhasey lives within his own cocoon without any ambition to break out and make his family’s life comfortable and meaningful. He likes to moralize and always find faults in Seday. He is more worried that he would do things wrong than doing things right. He wants his family to live within his code and his principle of life.

Seday, though semi-literate is more open and adventurous. Slowly but surely she reaches a tipping point and the world outside the marriage lures her. She does not hesitate to make decisions and break out of her world. She also starts to break away from Lhasey’s code of principles and lives her own life.

And the inevitable happens. Lhasey and Seday seperates when Lhazeen is 6 years old. On the threshold of maturity, Lhazeen struggles to find a place within herself where she can make sense of her past and connect it to her future, a place within herself where all the stories assimilate and become one. Lhazeen who lived a good part of her teenage life with a single parent not only wants to know her mother’s story but believes that she must complete the story as it’s part of her identity (that’s why she takes the journey).

The film also explores the theme of divorce especially when a child is stranded in between. Lhazeen, in her search for her mother, says that coming to terms with the past is important, not in the sense to find out who is right or who is wrong, what is moral or immoral, but to shake off the yoke of the past. But the journey, as a metaphor, is not so much about physical journey but about a journey within and discovering oneself.

Pema Yangki lifts the film a notch up with a reliable performance. There are also popular actors like Karma Choden, Karma Choechung and Rinchen Namgyel in the supporting roles. The music is scored by Jigme Norbu and has six songs.

Sem gi Jurwa is the first production of Sangay Tenzin of Lhazeen Infotainment. The film will be screened at Mig Cinema hall in Phuentsholing from February 12.