SIBEL B
Turkey France Germany
Luxembourg (95 mi) 2018
‘Scope d: Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovnetti
A kind of mythical film from the tiny village of Kuşköy in
northeastern Turkey, nestled in the Pontic Mountains along the Black Sea coast,
a region where its 500 or so residents are known for harvesting tea leaves and
hazelnuts, but also for their distinctive whistling sounds which are used to
communicate long distances, one of the few places on earth to practice this
technique, yet it’s a common local practice that’s been in existence for at
least 400 years. The rugged mountainous
landscape and sparse population make travel difficult even over short
distances, where a whistle can reverberate for more than a kilometer. The co-directing and writing team found this
unique cultural facet so inspiring that they decided to make a film there, set
in the forests, using mostly nonprofessionals from the region, but also 5
professional actors who had to get up at dawn, eat something and catch a bus to
the locale, then hike 2000 meters up a mountain daily just to arrive in the
right location. The film revolves around
Sibel, Damla Sönmez, a Turkish actress who has studied acting in Istanbul, Paris
and London, whose performance couldn’t be more physically challenging, a mute
who lost her voice at an early age, but is easily understood through whistling,
and who roams the forest like a feral child, where nothing escapes her watchful
eye. She is the daughter of Emin (Emin
Gürsoy), the patriarchal head of the village, with a kind of spoiled younger
sister Fatma, Elit Işcan, who also played one of the older sisters in Deniz
Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang
(2015), who basically despises how Sibel gets away with everything. For instance, she’s the only woman in the
entire region who doesn’t wear a head scarf, but she spends much of her time in
the forest isolated and alone, ostracized by the other women of the village who
believe she’s been cursed, so don’t want to be anywhere near her, openly
rejecting her when she comes too close.
She operates by an entirely different set of rules, fiercely adapting
herself to male skills, as she’s one of the more adept hunters of the region,
the envy of her father (as she’s certainly a better shot), but also works in
the fields picking tea leaves with the other women, while cooking her family
dinner every night and also washing the clothes. If the thought of Cinderella comes to mind, she seems to do the backbreaking work
while her younger sister needs to study.
They have an antagonistic relationship because Fatma is embarrassed by
her lack of civility, as she has no manners, dresses like a boy, and most
importantly, cannot speak.
Partly to protect the women in the village, the local
culture devised a myth about a wolf that roams in the higher regions of the
mountains, which keeps everyone closer to their village. Sibel, however, insists on hunting the wolf, hoping
to win approval, believing the town will welcome and embrace her if she can
kill the prized animal, so she spends her time roaming through the forests,
viewed as a primitive spirit that belongs more to the land than the
community. While this is an extreme
patriarchal society where men set the rules, it’s the women that carry them
out, expelling anyone that’s different.
What’s particularly striking is the extent that Sibel repulses everyone,
even her own sister, forcing her to live the life of an exile. Perhaps mirroring her situation is Narin (Meral
Çetinkaya), an eccentric old woman who lives alone, having lost her grasp of
reality a long time ago, believing in ancient stories and myths as if they were
real, still waiting for her fiancé who disappeared ages ago. Sibel appears to be the only one willing to
befriend Narin, seen regularly chopping wood, bringing her food, and just
generally looking after her, even as both are shunned by the rest. Sibel appears to be living in the mythical
universe that Narin describes, yet the realist manner in which the movie is
filmed, following every detail of Sibel’s daily existence, suggests a different
consciousness, one that is aware of her exclusion and the stigma she’s forced
to live with, yet has a yearning to be liked and appreciated. During a hunt for the wolf, Sibel is
ferociously attacked by a man hiding in the thicket, whose mysterious presence
presents its challenges. While rather
easily fending him off, she discovers he’s deeply wounded and secretly nurses
him back to health, offering food and protection while hiding him in the
forest. Even as police officials are
combing the neighborhoods for dangerous men who are presumed to be terrorists
at large, Sibel keeps her secret, who turns out to be Ali (Erkan Kolçak
Köstendil), another outcast we learn little about, as Sibel can’t really
communicate with him. Like Narin, she
regularly looks in on him, helps him regain his strength, and even offers help
stitching up his wound. As she collects
what she believes are wolf bones found scattered throughout the brush,
wondering whether to announce the wolf may finally be dead, Ali helps dispel
her notions, knowing human remains when he sees them, quickly setting her
straight.
In a male-dominated society, a woman’s role is to marry and
have children, preferably a son, words we hear preached throughout this film,
as part of the village tradition is the use of matchmakers for arranged
marriages, where young girls are chosen at early ages, an ancient practice that
is viewed as an honor to each family, with gifts bestowed upon the young bride
and groom, complete with celebratory festivities that include plenty of food
and dancing. While Sibel is routinely
ignored, treated as subhuman, Fatma is handpicked and is obviously excited at
the prospect, as is her father, surprisingly, who tells Sibel he was growing
tired of Fatma’s spoiled outbursts anyway, and this allows the two of them to
spend more time together. Incredulously,
Fatma throws her own sister out of the marriage celebration, a humiliating
gesture that simply perpetuates an ingrained class divide, as Sibel is continually
placed at the bottom rung, shunned by everyone except her father, which leaves
her seething with anger and shame, having to contain all that boiling rage of
resentment at how she’s continually despised, finding solace only in the
isolation of the forest. Yet it’s her
demonstrative, open display of freedom that seems to threaten the women of the
village, who find her such a nuisance for avoiding all social conventions. Fatma turns the tables on her, telling her
father Sibel was seen with a man in the forest, that she followed them herself
as she couldn’t believe her own eyes.
When Sibel denies the accusations, Fatma calls her a liar, which gets
her silenced by her father. But in the
fields the next day, Sibel is confronted by a collection of women who implement
their own brand of punishment, beating her half to death to teach her a
lesson. As she frantically searches for
Ali to warn him afterwards, he’s disappeared altogether and vanished into thin
air, leaving no trace, almost like he was never there. The police come investigating, asking to
speak to Sibel, who offers heartbreaking testimony through whistles, insisting
the man was unarmed and not a terrorist, as alleged, but her father protects
her and leaves out essential information, denying she saw anyone, but knowing
all along she was harboring a fugitive. Word
of Sibel’s betrayal is a jolt to the community, causing Fatma’s marriage to be
called off, where she has to return the gifts, leaving her utterly exasperated
by her sudden fall from grace, completely demoralized by the shame of it all,
where she can’t face anyone ever again.
Sibel, of course, knows exactly how that feels, having been on that end
of the stick her entire life, and encourages her sister to get dressed as
together they make that long walk in front of the entire town, all stopping what
they’re doing and staring in disbelief, like a walk of shame, with hateful insults
hurled at them both, but for Sibel it’s utter defiance, staring them all
straight in the eye, as at the end of town a bus awaits Fatma, exactly as it was
in Mustang,
with Sibel making sure her sister’s head is held high, taking her off to school
where hopefully a different future awaits.
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