Farat Damiroghlou

Kazim Oz has been occupied with writing scenarios and directing Kurdish films for years now and recently he has come back on stage with his new film called Zard (Yellow). There is always a kind of searching theme in his films, the hero is searching for something; even in his documentary films, the camera is looking for something as if the director himself is looking for something. They are following their precedents. This time in his new film, Zard, the main character following his precedents is leaving America and goes back to Kurdistan. The story and scenario are his. His path begins from his city, beginning from Partaka, and moves around Dersim and then turns into the story of a country.

The main character of the film is a young man in New York. He is studying music at the university. His grandmother who has arrived from Turkey is waiting for him. His grandfather who is in the US for his cancer treatment is with John. His grandmother asks him to sing a song and later he asks her to name a song. She asks for a Kurdish song that was popular when she was a kid. She has never talked about this with anyone because after Dersim's genocide, she was exiled from her country and she left all her family.

From here, John's journey begins. How does his grandmother know this song? What does it have to do anything with Kurds? His grandmother dies and John and his parents go to Afyon city in Turkey for her funeral. The two walnuts his grandmother had brought from Dersim became John's only heritage from his grandmother. Here, John finds out that his grandmother was from Dersim. He also goes to the train station and goes to Dersim. John asks everyone in Dersim about the song of Zard because he wants to find out its source. Everyone says something. Sometimes he visits Hozat and sometimes he goes to the villages. He visits everywhere. Finally, he finds an old lady who is blind. She sings the song for him and the film ends.

John is a young man who does not feel satisfied with his life but how come he ended up like this? What happened to him in New York? Why does his girlfriend feel unhappy and what has made them have so many problems? The film shows that he does not have a good relationship with his family but why? He doesn't like university so he wanders about New York streets, cafes, and bars. Why is he always unhappy? Amongst all these problems he hears about a song named Zard. The song amazes him as if he has been enchanted. But why does this song make his heart so sad? What happens when he buries his grandmother's body? All these questions remain unanswered.

When he goes to Dersim, he begins his journey from Al Aziz city and starts asking everyone about the song. Most of them know this song more or less. However, he still keeps his search for the source of the song. This is the film's disturbing point. What are this song's features that even after finding it, John is still looking for more? When he is on the ferry, what makes him so sad and blue? The birds fly over his head. We cannot see any particular meaning in all these. I believe that this film reminds us of Yilmaz Goney's film, Yul. However, that film conveys meaning.

Apart from this, from Al Aziz to all the other parts of Dersim, to whom does he speak, who contacts him, and from whom does he ask his questions? The people make fun of his words and sometimes he makes fun of them. The comedy dialogues are the most eminent part of the film. The man with glasses who is in the café reminds us of the dialogues of "Vizontala" a film produced by Yilmaz Erdogan. It is normal to see some things or dialogues in a film that remind you of another one, but when the film constantly reminds you of other films, it will be a weak point for that film.

Kazim Oz has always tried to make unique films. He has always said in his interviews that he pays a great deal of attention to the scenario and he reviews them many times even rewrites them. This was obvious in "Bahoz", another film by Oz. When the writer does not feel satisfied with some parts of the scenario, they can change those parts several times. This will appear in the whole story of the film and editing it thus makes the film lose its rhythm. In this film, Zard, it is obvious that the scenario has been changed, and things have been added and omitted. It is not clear how much it has been changed but it can easily be felt that these changes have had a negative impact on the scenes' relationship to one another. We can see this from the beginning to the end of the film which makes the audience feel separated from the film.

We were expecting Kazim Oz to appear on the stage with a different film genre, a new rhythm, story, and scenario. Unfortunately, this did not happen. Perhaps this film is a preface for another one. Thus, we wait for the next film.

Note: This article has been written after watching Zard.