Sibel

Damla sönmez.. The woman plays with her eyes. She is impressive and inspiring.

The actress and character are so badass you are left wondering why nobody else around sees that. That's a big part of the irony of this film. Aside from that I cared so deeply for these characters, great direction and storytelling. It was a thrilling journey. I could imagine this being a best foreign film nominee, it was that good!

This film reminded me of Mustang, another award-winning movie about the oppression of women and other evils of the Turkish countryside. Although the facts regarding this issue is true, cinematic representation of these facts requires literal artistry and Sibel is a total failure in this case.

Technical details aside (dialogues are badly written, acting of the amateurs are slightly better than terrible, while some villagers have strong rural accent, some others speak perfect Istanbul Turkish etc.), the movie has serious flaws from the beginning to the end. The movie aims to depict the condition of women in Turkish countryside, and problematizes the social mechanisms within. However, these social mechanisms are mainly women-borne, so as to say that "a woman is a wolf to other women."

This is the exact point this movie totally fails. Their "goal" for shooting this movie appears to be singling out their "fellows" in these rural communities (those who have potential to be bourgeois, though stuck in the countryside) and motivate them to fight back. Against whom? Against the oppressive women around them, instead of building a feminist consciousness and solidarity altogether.

Apparently this is all because the directors' strong bourgeois codes do not let them get into (and grasp the essence of) the real rural life, so they had no chance but to represent what they already had on their minds about it.

From the moment Sibel (Damla Sönmez)makes her appearance on screen, she captivates us through her beautiful expressive eyes and launches us into here world. She is a mute communicating only through whistling, ostracized by her fellow women tea plantation workers (and even her younger sister) for she is considered a bad omen - whether for someone getting pregnant or getting engaged. Only a half mad woman Nairn, who she visits occasionally seem to accept her. Sibel tries to break this vicious stigma and tries to gain acceptance by her community by killing a wolf which apparently is foraging the mountains and the whereabouts. She is armed with a rifle which her father has given her and she sets traps for the wolf. Despite her efforts the wolf never appears, but she manages to capture an army deserter (and hence a traitor to the locals) through one of her traps. Eventually this cascades to a tragic/dramatic turn of events where her relationship with her family and the villagers is tested and turned on its head. I found this film to be a powerful film, that is visually breathtaking at times, cruel, intense and captivating in its core issues. What happens when a foreigner is trying to raise an awareness which we cannot even comprehend because of our closed outlook, superstitions, religion maybe, culture etc? A dramatic turn of events, help Sibel (who in reality is somewhat free because of her handicap. She goes around without wearing a scarf and with a rifle like a man) to break the Silence that her stigma put her in, becoming a person in her own right. No longer a slave to her culture or community/familial ties, when several truths sink in, she is willing to pay the price to become her own person and obtain true freedom. This film almost deserves a second watching

In a rural Turkish environment, the film describes for a few days a young mute woman (Sibel) who is rejected by an inhospitable and rough village community, and confronted with customs of another time. The overall result is a little bland: 5/6 of 10.