Times and Winds (2006)

Reha Erdem captures so much in a world almost barren of freedom, opportunity and dialogue. Humanity is everywhere here, and in many of its forms evokes emotion from the observer. The film portrays a life and people who are strong and hard, yet their charm is plentiful. The cast are excellent and the photography seems to be more than just aesthetically delightful. It successfully connects the viewer with the place. The position of the village with its incestuously small life in the huge open timeless landscape with the sea in the distance is constantly magnificent. It echoes the theme, much like the words of the old lady when we first meet her. There are moments of brutality and horror, such as the moment the young girl drops her sister. Delicate moments and vulgar behaviour is witnessed throughout. I particularly enjoyed the run down to the orchard and grazing field each time a child called to his or her father. Or the brushing of heads with the leaves of the tree outside the schoolteacher's house. There is much to see here, even beyond the wonderful children. I loved the two brothers (one good and competent, one not so much) and their interaction with their father. The town's council, the temperamental electricity, the old lady, the school children, and the shepherd boy etc. also fill this document with life. That is the essence of this film (allowing for the fact that I know nothing of Turkish village life.) It is a colourful and expertly made documentation of a Turkish village. Successful in almost every way.Keen to cast an eye over authentic Anatolia, it was slightly disappointing to learn the actress playing the teacher is actually half German, from Germany, and is a doctor and a model. Although this wasn't as noticeable as in the Iranian-Turkmen 'Frontier Blues' where the woman also looking out of place is actually English and even half Berber. Although despite these two discernable women, generally they didn't distract too much from the wonder of the respective settings. As this is a film bubbling with life and character, it can easily absorb its minor faults. Serving as Bresson-like interludes and probably signifying the death of childhood, the wonderful photography of the children in dead like poses in rubble, hay, and vegetation was seemingly parallel to the story's style of filming, and almost out of place. Much like the usually excellent Arvo Part's music which serves only to create an ominous feel or sense of unease which is perhaps the purpose of this odd choice of soundtrack. Whereas the call to prayer works very well.An excellent glimpse of somewhere in Anatolia. Mr. Erdem has acheived a beautiful ode to his beautiful homeland.

A tiny poor village of a few hundreds, surrounded by rocky cliffs. Goats and olive trees, as everywhere in the region. The Black Sea can be seen from the cliffs, having the changing color of the sky, gray when it's windy, blue when it's sunny. Poverty of the place continuing in the majesty of the landscape, village life mastered by the moods of nature. The five times of prayer, midnight, morning, noon, afternoon, evening, are just brief moments to realize that you are at the mercy of what time brings.This is Kozlu, the birthplace of Turkish director Reha Erdem, and Bes Vakit (Times and Winds, made in 2006) is about this village and these cliffs, about the moods of weather and the times of prayer, and about these people.It is a movie full of love for this universe while devoid of any sentimentalism. The magnificent surroundings, the cliffs and the sea in close distance, pictured with awe, the poor village pictured with love, you feel this tenderness flowing from the screen; where the movie becomes unsentimental is when picturing the moods of people. They are his people, the guys of his village, the director is one of them, it is his universe. It is here love and lucidity. From the elders to the young, they are too challenged by these times and winds, to find space for kindness to one another. The elders are authoritative to the point of arbitrariness, the children grow up feeling the unfairness of the elders, hating them, childishly wishing their death. Three children of some eleven, twelve years are the main characters of this movie. On the threshold of puberty, a coming of age through frustration and resentment, balanced eventually by the miracles of nature they are witnessing. The unexpected coming and going of storms and winds will slowly teach them about the relativity of everything. The animal mating will be an abrupt lesson about the ultimate simplicity of love. The birth of a baby will show them the beauty of life despite all odds. The approaching of death of the father will make the boy suddenly and painfully realize what fear means, the terrible fear of loosing his father, how stupid his hate has been, his wish to see him dead.

Times and Winds is a portrait of family life in rural Turkey centred on the lives of three young children: Omer, Yakup and Yildiz. The village that they live in is a slightly ramshackle affair; many houses are showing their age and the cobble roads are worn and wonky. The surroundings, on the other hand, are sumptuously beautiful, ranging from lush green woodland to spectacular rocky cliffs and the gloriously shining sea. Director Reha Erdem uses Steadycam to track the characters as they travel through the village and the countryside, creating a sense that the little settlement and its grand surroundings are a seamless, congruous whole.The village, however, is not a harmonious place: there is great distrust between different generations, from the oldest to the youngest, and Omer, Yakup and Yildiz are caught up in this. The three young children all earn the displeasure and disappointment of their elders, and in turn become disillusioned and resentful.Omer's father, a local imam, is ever disappointed with his eldest son, and does little to hide his preference for Ali, Omer's bright younger brother. Omer begins to devise ways of killing his father, who is already suffering under the effects of a disease. Meanwhile, Yakup, Omer's close friend, is upbraided by his father, the muezzin, for trying to steal cigarettes, but finds – to his dismay – that he is being lectured by a moral hypocrite. The women in the village are not free from this futile cycle where the old alienate the young and the young resent the old: Yildiz, an intelligent young girl, has to look after her baby sibling on behalf of her mother, and suffers increasingly under the stress of this responsibility.It is no wonder that in their complicated, unrewarding family lives these children yearn for an escape, and so they gather together in the wilderness around their village to plot and play and dream. Recurring images show the young children lying prone – dead or asleep – out in the wilderness, a sad reflection of a world where they already feel like a disappointment.That is not to say that this is a wholly bleak portrait of life in rural Turkey. It is cheering to see the work done by the village committee members, who gather together to discuss pressing local issues. They condemn the beating of a local shepherd boy by his acting father and they organise the building of a new roof for an elderly lady as the winter sets in. There are also some very funny moments in Times and Winds, including the scenes where the children giggle over procreating animals. Even these scenes, however, are ultimately permeated with the same sadness found throughout the film: the boys catch the girls watching a pair of copulating horses and chase them away, in the belief that girls should not be allowed to see such things. In a place where religious figures such as the imam and the muezzin fall far short of the lofty ideals to which they aspire it is sad to see the wrong-headed behaviour inspired in these children.The film finds the perfect accompaniment in the music of Finnish composer Arvo Part. The sombre, haunting strings that swell periodically throughout Times and Winds mingle with the sounds of nature and of everyday life, and fittingly reflect the torment of human relationships against the most serene and beautiful of backdrops. Though nearly two hours long and driven by only the loosest of plots, Times and Winds does not feel like a slow film. There are so many characters and incidents that the film can be a little confusing in places, but it is relentlessly engaging. Times and Winds is all the more remarkable film for having come seemingly out of nowhere and it will hopefully win some much-deserved attention for new Turkish cinema.

On day 6 of our Toronto Film Festival I have found my gem of the year. Last year it was "Cafe Transit" and this year "Times and Winds".Story follows several preteens in a small Turkish village. One boy imaginatively plots his father's death who mistreats him, one boy loves the village school teacher, and one girls life will change with the pending birth of new sibling. It is a story of the death of innocence meaning childhood and the journey into responsibility and adulthood. If I heard right, (??) the director said he either lived there/grew up in that village at one time. The child actors are wonderful for first roles. I seriously loved this film, very gently moving at most times with moments of the harshness of life thrown in.Also, movie is originally titled Times Five (or Five Times) which indicates the times they go to pray but they went with Time and Winds for the English translation.This was the 3rd Turkish film I have seen this year and can't get over the spectacular scenery in all the films. Makes you want to go to Turkey on a holiday.