Hope (1970)
"Umut" (original title)

"Umut" is the story of an illiterate man and his family, whose existence depends on his income as a horse cab driver. When one of his horses is killed by an automobile, and when it is clear... See full summary »

Directors:

Serif Gören, Yilmaz Güney

Writers:

Serif Gören, Yilmaz Güney

Stars:

Yilmaz Güney, Gülsen Alniaçik, Tuncel Kurtiz

Cast

Credited cast:
Yilmaz Güney	...	Cabbar
Gülsen Alniaçik	...	Fatma
Tuncel Kurtiz	...	Hasan
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kürsat Alniaçik	...	Memet Emin
Osman Alyanak	...	Hüseyin Hodja, the imam
Enver Dönmez	...	The pickpocket
Mehmet Eken
Lütfü Engin	...	The grocer (as Lütfi Engin)
Sema Engin	...	Cemile
Nizam Ergüden	...	Nizam
Hicret Gürson	...	Hicret
Semra Kaya
Ahmet Koç	...	Ahmet, the repairman
Kemal Tatli	...	The police chief
Sevgi Tatli	...	Hatice

Storyline

"Umut" is the story of an illiterate man and his family, whose existence depends on his income as a horse cab driver. When one of his horses is killed by an automobile, and when it is clear that neither justice nor charity will prevail, the man, played by Güney, begins a slow slide into despair. On the advice of a local holy man, and fuelled by an indefatigable optimism, he sets out into the desert in quest of a mythical lost treasure, slipping further and further into that final, ineluctable moment where hope itself becomes the last terrible delusion.

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Plot Keywords:

horse | treasure | river | accident | telepathy

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish

Release Date:

13 April 1985 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Hope

Company Credits

Production Co:

Güney Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Episode #1.10 (2011)

User Reviews

Thought-provoking and confusing.

I didn't know what to expect coming into seeing Umut, only having heard that the critical consensus is that this is the best Turkish film ever made (don't know if that's true). Taken as a whole, this is a challenging film to explain. It is divided between neo-realistic photography and settings, and a story which ends almost surrealistically. It is the story of poverty as injustice, but also poverty as the result of the inaction or foolish actions of those who are poor. It may be read, also, as a comment on capitalism at large, or a comment on masculinity, or a religious commentary, or all of the above, or something else entirely.

Artistically, it is stunning. The available-light photography captures the streets of the city and the dawns on the plain with simplicity and poignancy. However, it isn't perfect - in my opinion, it is weakened by poor acting on the part of several characters (including the primary character's wife especially), and the stock which I saw (on Tour at the Freer gallery in Washington D.C.) had several distracting gaps of several seconds each.