Salvation

A Kurdish village in Eastern Turkey is split in two: Upper Pingan, on the mountain, and Lower Pingan, just below. Their respective inhabitants, the Hazerans and the Bezaris, find themselves in a decades-spanning feud – at least in the version Mesut propagates. He is unhappy with his brother Sheikh Ferit’s calls for peaceful coexistence, and when he starts having visions, he believes it is his divine duty to take over leadership of the Hazerans.

Salvation chronicles Mesut’s descent into religious fanaticism and paranoia in harrowing detail. The audience sees some of his feverish visions play out, such as the nightmare image of his wife being impregnated by an invisible force. When Mesut learns that she is expecting twins, he becomes convinced the children can’t be his, starts spinning an old wives’ tale that one of them must be the devil’s spawn. A throwaway comment by his wife reveals that he has trouble sleeping, opening up room for a viewer to speculate whether he is, in fact, experiencing hallucinations, not visions. Nevertheless, his populism and polemic speech fall on sympathetic ears by his fellow villagers, and Mesut gains a followership that supports his cry for war.

The vocabulary Turkish director Emin Alper lets his fictional demagogue use is one all too familiar to current times: the Bezaris are framed as terrorists, the Hazerans speak of a claim to their land.

A muted, desaturated palette informs the cinematography, reflecting both the dry landscape and emotional topography. The atmosphere of natural lighting, minimalism and realism is only interrupted by the apparitions, in which the interplay of light and darkness is almost reminiscent of horror movies. The restrained storytelling demands engagement and rapt attention; otherwise, one risks falling out of sync with the narrative.

While it is not the easiest feature to follow, Salvation compensates with a deeply satisfying experience for committed audiences. Out of all the films presented at this festival, its final image is the one that reverberates the longest.