İz: A road trip back to the roots

 M. Tayfur Aydın’s debut feature “İz/Reç” (Trace) tells the story of a Kurdish family living in İstanbul returning to their village in the southeastern city of Batman. This is a quiet but jolting road movie, and the surprise at the finale is made even more shocking and meaningful with the long and thoughtful silences during the trip.

But do not confuse silence with languor, for this is not minimalism done for the sake of looking artsy without context -- as some Turkish films have been inclined to do in recent years. Furthermore, the film possesses some of the best Turkish dialogues I heard lately, concise but elusive, and most importantly, realistic. I can’t tell you how tired I am of listening to unconvincing dialogue.

The story starts in İstanbul. Mirza (Necmettin Çobanoğlu) lives with his aging mother, Şeristan, his two daughters and his son, Hevi (Bilal Bulut), in a shantytown in the outskirts of İstanbul. The girls work in a textile factory and Hevi is a university student who is experiencing a major identity crisis. Not only has he fallen in love with an upper-middle class girl from his school, but is also in full denial of his Kurdish identity. Against all odds, Hevi shares tender and delicate moments with her in which he explains to her how he has chosen to deny his background.

While Hevi chooses to live a life in denial and youthful revolt, father Mirza gets ever the more angry with him. But wise grandma Şeristan repeatedly saves the day by telling her son to go easy on Hevi. Şeristan might be the emotional skeleton of the household, but after a visit to the doctor, she learns her time is nearly up. “My days are numbered, and I just have one dying wish from you, bury me in the soil of my real village,” she tells Mirza. Mirza decides to take Şeristan by train to the Southeast and also forces Hevi to come with them. Perhaps this will be a transformative journey for the boy. And indeed it will.

The train journey takes the trio through the Anatolian landscape where thought and contemplation become major elements. Even the difficult relationship between Mirza and Hevi seems to become more understanding, as Hevi slowly starts acknowledging his roots. But the root of the matter and the issue of “returning to one’s real roots” belong to Şeristan, whose early death on the train makes Hevi want to return to bury her in Batman. So the two embark on a journey by foot, along with a horse who carries the casket, through mountainous terrain to reach the “motherland” so the wise “mother” can find peace at last.

Despite its various flaws -- for example, its contextually irrelevant side story concerning a relative that could have been cut out all together -- and director Aydın’s insistency on illustrating the police and the mountain rangers as one-dimensional types as opposed to believable characters, “İz” delivers an intimate study of a father-son relationship and the father’s obsession with keeping his promise to his mother all the way through.

The film is not per se a scrutiny of the Kurdish issue on a grand scale, but a meaningful and relatable personal story of people who have been forced out of their villages -- and identities -- and their struggle to reclaim their roots. This struggle is only natural, for one can simply understand a human being, especially if it is a dying person who wants to return to their place of birth. There is more to Şeristan’s personal history, and once we discover this, it is even sadder to realize the thousands of people who have had to keep their identity secret, literally take their secret to the grave.

Visually, the film is beautifully shot. Especially during the walk through the mountains, Aydın’s lens is a tender and curious one; it presents an insight into his characters but is never invasive.

The acting by veteran Çobanoğlu is one of the strongest elements in the film. Watching him is like watching an acting lesson. He is still as intense as he was in the 1970s.

“İz” is not a film to be dismissed. It’s an effort full of compassion and earnestness, which are hard qualities to find these days.

‘İz’ (Trace)

Directed by:

Tayfur Aydın

 Genre: drama

Cast: Necmettin Çobanoğlu, Bilal Bulut, Melahat Bayram, Serdar Orçin