Orisiya (1983)

This is a screen version of the short story 'Dervish Seed' from great Bulgarian writer Hikolai Haitov. The action takes place in an old-time village in the Rhodope mountains. A boy grows up in a mountainous village. To make sure that the 'dervish seed' of their clan will be preserved, his relatives decide to arrange a marriage for him. His fiancé is a beautiful girl. The Boy is hardly 14 when he is married off to a girl he sees for the first time on his wedding night. The young people fall for each other, but they are still kids, unable to cope with hardships all by themselves. Neither has yet emerged from their childhood and simply gets carried away by childish games, so that the morning the bride is still the maiden she was before. The girl's brothers strike a bargain with a neighbor and swap their sister for two goats. A rich man, who also is setting his affection upon the girl, pays off a ransom and takes the girl off. Years pass by. Both the boy and the girl have families of their own, yet their hearts are in agony for good. Torn between hatred for his rival and his love, for 40 years the Boy is destined to see his beloved busying herself in the neighboring garden. But towards the end of the film when her husband is taken ill, he gives her a hand in tending the man who has broken his life. Love has vanquished the barbaric wish for revenge. The primitive consciousness of the character has evolved to a higher level of humane thinking. In fact, this spells the film's main idea: though one may not find happiness, one can still fulfill the higher purpose of one's life.