Sibel – A pastoral tale of womanhood

Recently, I had the chance to see Sibel. The latest collaboration of Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti. The movie speaks to our roots, subconscious mind, collective consciousnesses, and so on. During the movie, I made many connections to a book I read and enjoyed very much the book is called Women Who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, which dives deep into the female archetype and stories. It is based on Jungian psychology and it has a very light tone that almost everyone could understand and relate but let’s get back to the movie.

Sibel follows the story of a mute girl who only communicates with others by a regional whistle language. Naturally, Sibel is an outcast. The movie makes us understand being an outcast as a woman may result in greater freedom than being ordinary and unfortunately conforming. Unlike her sister Sibel doesn’t have a curfew, she doesn’t have to wear a headband. She gets along with her father just fine. Her only major goal in life is to hunt down the wolf in the mountains and get herself respected. The wolf symbol was successfully integrated into the movie. We observe the relationship of a woman and patriarchy. Dad figure being both the man and the authority in the village, the story is narrated through their relationship.

The perfect relationship between Sibel and her father takes a hit when Sibel keeps a strange man in the woods. This new encounter completely shifts the dynamics. We see villager women beating Sibel. Her young sister turning on her and also her father changing his attitude and slightly threatening Sibel by telling her the true story of another young woman who fell in love with a man and ran away. This young woman happens to be Narin, whom we see since the beginning of the movie. Supposedly Narin ran away with her boyfriend and her brothers caught them and beat the boy to death. Up until Sibel’s strange friend is known to her father, he doesn’t tell the true story to Sibel. After her boyfriends’ death, Narin loses her mind and keeps waiting for her lover even though he is dead. Narin and Sibel both being outcasts they get along very well.Narin is The Crone to Sibel.Sibel is strongly narrated, tells the authentic story of an outcast transforming into a strong woman in the most feminist tone. The movie is also the best Turkish movie I watched this year, but hey it’s only March…Right?