Sure, Samet lies lots, however doing the other, being brutal honesty, is simply as hurtful.
Enraged about Sevim’s backstabbing, he tells the rowdy class that none of them will quantity to a lot apart from rising crops for the rich to eat. Statistically that’s probably a harsh actuality, however a part of his responsibility as a instructor is to lie and instill the assumption that they will surmount these circumstances in hopes {that a} handful of them are impressed sufficient to defy the percentages. As an alternative, he seems like a dictator making an attempt to silence the opposition, talking of his enemies, on this case elementary college women, as folks deserving of collective scorn.
Ceylan transforms quotidian encounters into conversational battlefields that unfurl the characters’ most ingrained apprehensions or unflattering instincts. That is distinctly true in scenes with Semat and Kenan’s new left-wing pal Nuray (Merve Dizdar), a former navy girl turned instructor who misplaced her proper leg in an explosion. The steadily paced, richly mental, and absorbingly acted scenes make the expansive operating time irrelevant.
When Nuray shares that she’s bought a automobile, Kenan reacts with real pleasure. We hear him rejoice, and minimize to her reacting in delight. The following shot reveals Samet Kenan with disgust over his earnestness, a wordless second of villainy. When he lastly speaks, his companions don’t reply, they’re staring intently at one another. Samet acknowledges a connection is brewing. He’s jealous, not due to any curiosity in courting her, however of the notion that others can expertise such pleasure. Samet additionally reviles figuring out that Nuray finds Kenan, raised on this land and who he judges as uncultured, extra fascinating than him.
Over dinner on a unique night time, essentially the most riveting ideological duel within the movie takes place — Ceylan’s quietly explosive dialogue rouses the thoughts. Nuray sees by Samet’s toxic politeness, used to disguise his staunch selfishness. The terribly restrained Dizdar, who gained the Greatest Actress award at Cannes for this flip, provides voice to her galvanizing strains advocating for group, whereas he defends his inaction because the good selection. “Shall I inform the reality or attempt to make you content?,” Samet responds to her inquiries about the kind of particular person he thinks he’s. However although motives differ, Nuray sins of concealment too when she asks him to not communicate of their one-on-one night as to not harm Kenan.