Director: Mustafa Kara
Language: Turkish
Mustafa Kara’s pastoral drama Cold of Kalendar takes you through a tempestuous spin as it celebrates the unflinching nature of human resolve.
Visually powerful and emotionally overbearing, the movie tells the story of Mehmet, a poor animal breeder, who is on a quest to find gold seams in the Black Sea mountains of Turkey. The man, who barely makes ends meet, hopes that the mines would bring him luck some day and help him better support his family.
However, his wife Hanife and mother consider his endless pursuit nonsensical and useless. But that doesn’t deter Mehmet from his hunt for hope (read gold).
Later, when winter plays spoilsport in his gold prospecting hopes, Mehmet is forced to find something else to anchor his dreams. He learns about a bullfight competition in the neighborhood and decides to train his bull for the same. If his bull wins, Mehmet can win a cash prize and it would help him pay off the debts.
A tale of perseverance and struggle, Cold of Kalandar captures a man’s complex relationship with himself, nature and animals.
The slow burn approach by the director must have been intentional as it beautifully depicts the mundane hugger-mugger of the daily grind. It talks about poverty and survival at the same time.
The stunning shots of the four temperaments of the mountains – misty, snowy, flowery and cloudy – celebrate nature in all its grandeur. The movie brilliantly juxtaposes the unpredictability of the seasons with the uncertainty in Mehmet’s life.
Will Mehmet end his prospective of finding a better life? If not, how long can he cling to such far-fetched dreams?