THE HERD (SURU)
Turkey, 1979, 129 minutes, Colour.
Tarik Akan, Melike Demirag, Tuncel Kurtiz.
Directed by Zeki Okten.
The Herd was written by celebrated actor and director Yilmaz Guney. However, he was in prison on a murder charge when this film was made and one of his assistants, Zeki Okten, stepped in as director. However, because of the screenplay and the issues, it is a Yilmaz Guney film.
The film is set initially in remote areas of Anatolia, focusing on the blood feuds between shepherd families. It then moves towards a town with an order placed from Ankara for several hundred sheep to be transported. A good half of the film consists of the journey, the antagonisms of the officials who want more sheep as bribes, the engine drivers who are also put out because of the bribes and the alleged stinginess of the shepherds and jolt the train breaking the legs of some of the sheep. Then there are thieves who chase the train, pull sheep from the carriages and escape in a car. There are also various passengers, a group crippled prostitute who comes aboard the train for the men. Eventually, they arrive in Ankara and the film changes mood, showing the enormous contrast between the Turkish countryside and the capital, the crowds of people, the modern clubs, shops, the refugees from the countryside trying to settle in the city.
Underlying this journey is the story of a man who has married a young wife from the opposite clan during a truce. This has not stopped the enmity, especially from the man’s father who is patriarchal, bigoted, blaming the daughter-in-law for every setback. The daughter-in-law has had three deaths of children, even though she is only eighteen, and is very sick, suffering during the trip, too shy and modest to be examined by doctors, ultimately dying.
Guney’s films are often pessimistic, especially such films as The Hope in which he starred as a poor cart driver who goes mad in his search for Treasure. At the end of this film, the old man has been cheated out of his money for the sheep, the daughter-in-law has died and her body is stranded in Ankara, her husband goes berserk, throttling a man who made a casual remark about everybody dying and he is led away by the police.
The film is considered something of a classic, a portrait of the wide range of Turkish experiences in the 1970s.
1. Yilmaz Guney and his status in Turkey, actor, writer, director? His portraits of Turkey, especially in the 1970s?
2. The scope of the film: the hills and the shepherds, the town, the train ride and the various landscapes, the small towns, Ankara and life in the big city?
3. The colour photography, the landscapes, the cityscapes, vivid? The musical score?
4. The opening with the horsemen the establishing of the enmity between the clans, the blood feud, the confrontations? The truce, the ethos of each clan? The marriage, its failure to heal the feud, the deaths, the intense hatred?
5. Sivan and his place in his clan, a good man, moderate in his words, actions, his marriage to Berevan, the deaths of their children, her illness? His frustration at her year of silence, pleading with her, hitting her? His defence of her from the attacks of his father? His father assaulting him, the brutal bashing? Berevan and her age, the deaths of her children, her illness? Her inability to articulate what she felt? Her response to Sivan’s defence of her, choosing to follow him always when her brothers wanted to talk to her?
6. The families and their bitterness, the various individuals in each family, the man who had the seizures, the young man and the sales of what he found in the cave, making money? The father, the severe patriarch, superstitious about his misfortunes? His attitude towards his son?
7. The sheep in the hills, the herd, going to Ankara, taking them down the hill, Sivan and his decision to go to help his father as long as he was paid for his services and to help Berevan?
8. The sheep, the walk, herded into the train, filling in the documents, the bribes necessary, the DDT and the carriage, the engine driver jolting the train and breaking the legs, the thieves boarding the train, driving past in the car, throwing the stolen sheep off, the sickness of the sheep, their having to be unloaded? The father and his woes?
9. The different landscapes, the greater number of people, passengers on the train, the episode with the crippled prostitute, her pimp, put on the train, getting off, getting the money from the boy and the promise of the woman coming to him?
10. The herd getting off the train, going through the streets of Ankara, the people all looking and gaping, going to the market, the business manager and his inspection of the sheep, refusal to pay because of lateness? The father and the group stranded and Ankara?
11. Sivan, his work, helping, Berevan and her illness during the journey, the father accusing her of what happened? Getting the money from his father to pay for the doctor?
12. His carrying Berevan, going to stay with friends, their talk, offer of help, the tour of the new building, the hopes, the socialist son and his criticisms? Prospect of jobs?
13. The visit to the doctors, the crowded hospitals and the lines? Berevan as shy, refusing to be touched, refusing to talk? The second doctor, the prescription, buying the medicine, her taking it, her dying, Sivan discovering her body? The father refusing to transport the body, coming to visit the corpse, cursing it? The friends dragging the body – and their caught in the dilemma of what to do?
14. Sivan, wandering the town, hearing the comment on people’s deaths, throttling the man, the crowd, the police taking him away?
15. The focus on Ankara, the people, the busy city, the clubs, the shops and their wares, the group from the country looking at these aspects of city life?
16. Portrait of a people, touches of hope – but more hopelessness?
