Rating: 3.5/5
Asian Cinema Challenge 2024 | 8/52 | Middle Eastern Films
Osman rides a donkey, leading another one in front of him with lumber attached to its sides to his farm. He tells his younger brother, Hasan, his plan to dam the spring on his land, preventing water from flowing into the valley. Osman knows the summer will be too dry to provide enough water for all the farmers. Once Osman can irrigate his land, he will remove the dam. Hasan begs him not to, knowing the ire this will stir. Still, Osman carries forward with his plan, telling the farmers to figure it out.
Hasan’s fiancee, Bahar, stands across the way, using a handheld mirror to create a glint and attract his attention. She applies perfume to draw him deeper into the reeds when she knows he is coming. There, they discuss their love and their future. Bahar’s mother says they cannot marry until after the harvest, but Hasan doesn’t want to wait. So, the brothers conspire to steal Bahar away from her mother (with Bahar’s consent).
Osman’s greed extends to his brother’s wife as he covertly watches them have sex (after getting married, of course). There’s an excellent cut from Osman talking Bahar to hands going up Bahar’s legs. The hands are Hasan’s, but Osman wishes they were his.
Tensions brew in the village as the dry season brings fires and the farmers react.
The film explores the contradictions in claiming what was here long before us. The farmer owns land to make a living—when this movie came out, agriculture was the dominant economic force in the country. But those borders don’t apply to the water that runs over and beneath the land. And yet, people still lay claim to water sources, privatizing the world’s access to it.
Though Osman’s move is selfish, it also reflects the hoarding mentality that capitalism fosters. Those who can possess a resource can police other’s access to it. In the film, Osman has the law on his side.
These themes carry over into the treatment of Bahar as yet another resource to exploit. Osman wants Hasan and Bahar to have as many children as possible so they can work on his farm. He also recruits Bahar to work the farm and perform household chores. The film doesn’t explicitly mention the unpaid labor and care that tradition heaps on women’s shoulders, but the mirroring of Bahar and the water is intentional.
My biggest complaint about the movie is the number of scenes with nearly identical dialogue. It’s not unrealistic but gets repetitive and doesn’t move things along. Still, the film has dynamic and creative cinematography and a steady, building energy that keeps it from feeling slow.
It’s worth mentioning that this film depicts actual animal deaths. Osman cuts off a chicken’s head. Also, someone shoots and kills a dog, and we see the bloodied body multiple times. Both scenes are graphic, so be warned.
Though this film received a Golden Bear and had a brief run in the US, the Turkish Ministry of Interior’s film censorship board banned it for its “negative images of Turkish society.” We can watch a restored version thanks to filmmaker Fatih Akin, who brought this film to the World Cinema Foundation’s attention.