TURKEY
UMUT Hope
1970 – 35mm – b/w - 105’
Direction: Yilmaz Güney
Screenplay: Yilmaz Güney
Cinematography: Kaya Ererez
Editing: Celal Köse
Music: Arif Erkin
Sound: Necip Saricioglu
Cast: Yilmaz Güney, Gülsen Alniaçik, Tuncel Kurtiz, Kürsat Alniaçik, Osman Alyanak, Enver Dönmez
Production: Güney Film, Abdurrahman Keskiner
SYNOPSIS
Cabbar is a horse-cab driver hounded by his creditors. He has barely enough to live on, but he has a great, most unlikely hope: he will win the lottery. The situation is coming to a head when a car accidentally kills one of his horses. Unable to continue working only with a horse and forced to accept makeshift jobs in order to survive, he decides to sell furniture or whatever in order to buy another horse; however, one day, while he is away, creditors rush into his house and take the cart and the remaining horse. Cabbar, together with his friend Hasan, decides to go into crimes, but that's wrong too. Therefore the two friends go in search of a treasure thanks to the magical powers of a religious...
CRITICAL NOTE
“Umut has been compared to Ladri di biciclette, but it is a questionable comparison. In Güney's films, miserableness and 'good feelings' by De Sica can never be found. Umut is a harsh, ruthless film, anything but consolatory. (…) the semi-documentary realism is never abandoned in favour of something conventionally “higher”. (…)” (Davide Ferrario)
“Stylistically, Umut starts off as an exercise in stark realism, and gradually shifts to a more mytho-poetic register. But maybe not mytho-poetic enough: despite numerous awards and a theatrical run, the film was eventually deemed politically subversive and banned for a period by the authorities, which only helped make Güney even more popular than before among viewers.” (Bilge Ebiri, Senses of Cinema)
AWARDS
1970 Adana Festival: Miglior Film, Best Film, Best Actor
1972 Grenoble Festival: Special Jury Award
