The Herd

Written by Yılmaz Güney and directed by Zeki Ökten, The Herd is the story of a nomadic Anatolian family on the verge of collapse. The film’s story describes a blood feud between two families. Şivan, who is married to Berivan, the daughter of the rival family, is no longer favoured by his father, Hamo Agha. Berivan, who lost all three of her babies, is mute, having lost her ability to speak in consequence of these traumas. But even though his wife is hated by his father soince he believes she has brought misfortune to the family, Şivan will not let her go. Divided into three parts – the family relations, a train journey and events in Ankara as the finale, The Herd has achieved the level of an epic, successfully representing Turkish cinema at international festivals. The story starts in the wilderness of South-Eastern Turkey, it develops as the family travels in the train, one of the most fascinating “road movie” sequences in cinema history, and intensifies as the family arrives in Ankara. The turning point in the story occurs when Şivan takes his wife and leaves the family. Ökten takes a cynical look at ordinary life in a country in turmoil after political assassinations and rapid social change have introduced new values. Both Hamo Agha’s and Şivan’s hopes are buried in Ankara. From the first frame onwards, the Güney-Ökten team show just how destructive human beings can be. Graced by the performances of Tuncel Kurtiz, Tarık Akan and Melike Demirağ and the entire cast, the film’s success was also guaranteed by İzzet Akay’s cinematography and Zülfü Livaneli’s music It took Best Film and Best Actress at the Locarno Film Festival.