Times And Winds (BesVakit) By Author’s Name

Not worth the time

Beautifully shot, this slow-moving film depicts life in rural Turkey by presenting narrative threads from the lives of three teenage children from a Turkish village. It offers some insights into the patriarchal nature of Turkish life and education in Turkey, and its central theme is the relationship between generations seen mainly through the animosity of fathers to sons. The film has its moments of dramatic tension such as when a teenage son opens a window in his father’s bedroom in the night hoping that the ensuing draught will exacerbate his chest condition and precipitate his death, or when equally he spills the contents of his father’s capsules onto the ground with the same end in view; but this is a thinly-plotted drama without either a very clear sense of direction or obvious narrative arc – more of a ‘slice of life’ than a story – and the at times overbearing soundtrack and non-naturalistic elements do not sit easily with the slowly meditative flavour of the rest of the film.

This movie was a bit hard to follow for me. I had a hard time understanding some random shots and scenes and had a hard time figuring out what elders were related to which child. The film seemed to drag on to me, but somehow kept me engrossed and I stuck it out till the end. It was a rather hollow ending also, seems to just stop. This is one of those movies where you have to pay close attention and subtitles don’t help.

“Bes Vakit”, to give it the Turkish title, means 5 times, which are the five times a day that Sunni Muslims are called to pray. The film is in 5 sections corresponding to these – Morning, Midday, Afternoon etc – and the effect is cyclical, creating a rhythm attuned to the seasons and the countryside. This is a hauntingly beautiful film on one level celebrating the simplicity of the rural life and the gorgeous patterns of nature. (The film is set inland from the Aegian coast, where in a matter of kilometres you can step back 200 years from the gaudy tourist strip that has disfigured the coast. Unsurprisingly, the Turkish tourist board sponsored this movie, because one effect is to make you long to be there.) Director Reha Erdem is a photographer and poet as well as a film-maker, and it shows in the many haunting images which are almost stills, where the camera almost stops the action. Perhaps the most significant are a series of shots throughout the movie, where the adolescents who are central to the film are lying almost dissolved into the earth and nature.

However, on another level, this is a film about cycles of abuse, as fathers crush their sons, and then the sons go on to be oppressive fathers. (The one important young female character has a similar relationship with her mother, but this isn’t explored so fully.) The two main boys, Yakup and Yildiz, fantasise about killing their fathers, buying poisonous scorpions, making flick-knives, taking the medecines out of Dad’s capsules…. But Dad in turn has his Dad, who yells at him for being useless on the land, and relentlessly humiliates him in front of his brother. But by the end you see the truth of the maxim, Beware of what you wish for, because you may just get it.

This is not a film for viewers wanting slick Hollywood-style plot or dialogue. Much of the film is speechless, accompanied only by the sounds of the countryside or Arvo Part’s haunting music. One of the things I really like about this film is that no-one talks unless they have to – a characteristic of third-world cinema, which shows up the hollow and implausible chatter of Tinseltown. The director doesn’t tell us, he shows us, and he has the courage to let us make our own connections between scenes and images. At one point, for example, we see the boys looking down on a funeral. We know immediately whose funeral it is, without anything being said.

As I said this is a cyclical film, about birth, growing, and death. It is bracing, healthy and wholly enchanting and will reward anyone with patience and an eye to beauty.

Very low key film. I love to see how other cultures live and what their lives are like. This film takes us to a small Turkish village and shows us a few months in their lives. The film also deals with how young and adult children relate with their parents. This is a very well done film with universal themes.

At once dreamy and harsh, this is an indie gem in the rites of passage genre. The treatment isn’t for everyone, but if you enjoy a story that explores rather than follows a plot, you’ll appreciate the cycle or stage of life these children are moving through, as did innumerable generations before them. As they lose bits of childhood, it’s like a small death inside each time, and it becomes increasingly clear to them and to us where their lives are headed. The child actors were remarkably good, the location is hauntingly beautiful, and the eye on ancient village life feels true. Highly recommended.