Written by: Belle McIntyre

There are certain filmmakers whose work is inexorably linked to the land and the culture of the inhabitants. Iranian Jafir Panahi is one who comes immediately to mind. The bleak snow-blanketed landscape in rural western Anatolia, Turkey is the locus of this remote outpost which has a government-run elementary school which serves all of the kids from the area. The winter is severe and long. The opening scene sets the pace as we follow the trudging footsteps of a man walking through falling snow which is up to his knees for what seems like forever. When he arrives at the “campus” we are introduced to the teachers in shabby communal spaces, which look warm and welcoming in comparison to the outside.

The main character, Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), is the art teacher, and has a certain air of superiority which does not make him particularly likeable among the small-minded local folk. It is later revealed he is merely biding his time until his contract is satisfied at the end of the school year. and he can return to Istanbul. It is apparently a requirement for civil service in Turkey. He is something of a misanthrope, a liberal intellectual and better educated than the others and continually makes his own rules including having obvious favorites among the female students who vie for his attention.

The various characters in this milieu are richly fleshed out in all of their eccentricities, curious backstories and interconnections. The claustrophobia is palpable until the arrival of the beautiful Nuray (Merve Dizdar), an urban activist who has lost her leg in a bomb explosion. She has taken a teaching post here while she recovers from the trauma. Suddenly the jaded and cynical Samet has met his intellectual match. Samet has tried to encourage Nuray and his housemate, Kenan into a relationship. The three friends become a more complicated triangle. Simultaneously, one of Samet’s pet students, Sevim gets caught in a mortifying situation regarding her feelings toward him and things get really ugly. All of the small town pettiness, resentments, and jealousies raise their nasty heads and threaten the careers of both Samet and Kenan. The chilly inhospitable mood of the first hour has gotten gradually fully populated with complicated characters and situations.

The cinematography enhances the shift by having the almost monochromic outdoor scenes interspersed with the beautiful richly colored photographic portraits taken by Samet. The indoor scenes are all filmed in soft low light which gives even the shabby interiors a warmly textured feeling. The weather and the landscape are once again the major elements in the end. When winter finally ends, there is no spring. It is suddenly summer. There are few trees or leafy foliage, mostly moors and dry grasses. It feels like an enormous relief to the feeling of entrapment experienced by many of the teachers. All the philosophical questions and self-examinations are still unresolved. It feels like an entire life cycle has passed and it will not easily leave the imagination.