BEFORE SNOWFALL
Norway, 2013, 96 minutes, Colour.
Abdullah Taher, Suzan Ilir.
Directed by Hisham Zaman.
Before Snowfall is a Norwegian film with a Norwegian director who emigrated from Kurdistan when the young.
This is a Kurdistan story, a story of a young man who escapes from his home country concealed in an oil tanker, travels to Turkey and Istanbul, and then on to Greece, Berlin and, finally, to Norway. This makes the film an interesting look at refugees from the Middle East and how they moved from Asia to Europe.
It is the mission that the young man has which is also of great interest. His sister has fallen in love and, to escape her arranged marriage, flees to Istanbul. Her brother is commissioned by a wealthy leader in the village to track her down and kill her, an honour-killing. The young man is quite relentless, knowing no better, absorbing the traditions of the village.
However, some things change in Istanbul, especially when he meets a young girl who wants to go to Germany to track down her father. Transported by people smugglers, they find themselves in Greece with the police asking for the names of the smugglers – which the young man offers in order to escape. After finding the girl’s father who has married again, they travel to Norway where the news is that the boy’s sister has fled.
There is a dramatic finale in the snow – but a grim ending, the boy confronted by the agents of the people smugglers who want revenge on him.
1. A story of the Middle East, arranged marriages, and the vendettas, illegal migrants, people smugglers, entry into Europe and the European Union?
2. The locations, the Kurdish mountains, the village, the snow, the seasons, the Turkish countryside, the detail of Istanbul, into Greece, Germany, Norway? The musical score?
3. The title, Siyar and his mission, travel, the confrontation with his sister? In the snow?
4. Audiences understanding village life in Kurdistan? Families, clans, arranged marriages, moral norms, Siyar, loves, the consequences, murder? The scenes with the families and their discussions, making excuses for the behaviour of the daughter, the leader of the village and his commissioning the execution of the daughter? Phone contact, supplying money, contact with people in Istanbul, with people smugglers?
5. Siyar, his age, his understanding the ethos of the village? His condemnation of his sister? His being commissioned to seek her out? His mother, his sister, their wanting the girl back home?
6. The opening, wrapping Siyar, his travelling in the oil tank, not being detected, on the roof, on the road, the encounter with the Turkish man in the countryside, going to Istanbul, the hotel, wanting contacts, the room with the other Kurds, his money, his being robbed in the street?
7. Tracking down his sister’s lover, meeting him, finding the truth that he had assisted the couple to escape? His place in the village, not welcome to return?
8. Meeting Evin, disguised as a boy, her story, her father, singer, Germany, her wanting to go? Friendship with Siyar, their discussions, his wanting to help her?
9. The contact, the people smugglers, the truck, waiting for Evin, her joining the group, Siyar crossing into Greece? The police rounding up the group, promising freedom if the people smugglers were named, Siyar doing this?
10. In Berlin, Evin, going to see her father, his new family, his former wife in prison, the meal, his wanting to move on?
11. Travelling to Norway, the local Kurdish contacts, the information about Siyar’s sister, his drinking, the confrontation in the snow, his not being willing to
kill her, her freedom?
12. The irony of Siyar, the contact in the snow, killing Siyar because of his betrayal of the people smugglers?
13. A grim contemporary story, the Kurdish origins of the director, his life and filmmaking in Norway, his perceptions on a story of Eastern -Europe?
