A Book and A Movie: “A Season in Hakkari”

Abstract

Ferit Edgü’s poetic novel “He/A Season in Hakkari”, based on a true life story, was published in 1977. The novel, which tells the story of the 1970s when a primary school teacher was exiled to a mountain village (Pirkanis-Işıklar) in Hakkari, focuses on a winter season the teacher spends in the village. The novel, which was adapted into a movie in 1983 as 110 minutes, and won four awards including the Silver Bear at the 1984 Berlin International Film Festival. The film was written by Onat Çağlar and directed by Erden Kıral. The movie has become a monument to watch with the unique acting of the master actor Genco Erkal and his companions Şerif Sezer and Rana Cabbar. The film’s music was composed by Timur Selçuk. The novel deals with the poverty, loneliness, lack of education, discrimination, and traditions of the Kurdish mountain villagers. In addition, he criticizes Türkiye’s administrative system, education system, health system, in short, all administrative, political, economic, and cultural aspects of Türkiye, sometimes with black humor and sometimes realistically. However, the film is not a one-to-one adaptation of the book. While many scenes not in the novel are in the film, many subjects in the novel are not included in the film. However, the main idea of ​​the novel is preserved in the film: a lonely teacher who is exiled and the poor life of Kurdish villagers in a mountain village, isolated from West of Türkiye. The teacher is in the position of the “other” or “he”. Although the film is not as successful as the novel, it should be on the list of must-see films because it deals with poverty, feudal life, and gender in Türkiye.