Law of the Border (1966)

The Law of the Border (Turkish: Hudutların Kanunu) is a 1966 Turkish drama film, written by Yılmaz Güney and directed by Ömer Lütfi Akad.

Restoration

The film was restored in 2011 by the World Cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata Laboratory. Unfortunately only one copy of the film survived the 1980 Turkish coup d'état led by Chief of the General StaffGeneral Kenan Evren, all other copies were seized and destroyed. The one remaining copy was badly scratched filled with mid frame slices, is missing a few frames, and has suffered deterioration due to it being on color stock film while the film is in black and white. Due to these problems the end result is not a beautifully restored print and the sound fades and even cuts at times yet the movie and story still work as does the films continuity and dialogue.

Themes

While the main story is about smuggling and a father Hidir played by Yilmaz Güney, without a future fighting to give his young son Yusuf played by Hikmet Olgun a future, it is as much about the forces that push Hidir and his fellow villagers to smuggle & a telling of the plight of the poor and alienated group of people struggling to survive the only way they ever knew, from father to son. "Hudutların Kanunu underlines the importance of education, which is the crucial element of socio-economical progress in third world countries." (Fatih Akin, May 2011) This is the main message of the movie to have the options to educate and grow the option to make a life is as import as hard work, that without a chance people stagnate even great people and Hidir is the symbol of that stagnation while his son shows hope of the future a way out of the cycle. It also shows the great divide of the haves and have nots an old way of life fighting to survive while the new way comes along to late to save any but the children. The film shows the violence of this system and manipulation of the corrupt as it also shows the good intentions of authority misused by the wealthy to hurt the poor. The film repeatedly shows the inability for people to get past social structures and economics and almost pleads with the viewer to think about the plight of the villagers and give them a chance to let them grow as humans. Yet in the end reality crashes in while duty, survival, and emotions, take over nobility, and people resort back to what they know be it teacher commander smuggler or profiteer. Other themes like a horse, nomadic culture vs a car sedentary culture are explored to lesser degrees yet are very deliberate and help symbolize the divide in the society.

Impact

The Law of the Border was the beginning of “New Cinema” in Turkey it was realistic, and focused on social and economic problems and was a 180 turn from the dream like non realistic movies made in Turkey before it. While not to be placed in the Euro western or spaghetti western categories, the film is along the lines of a western(cowboy) picture

Synopsis

A la frontière turque, la vie d'agriculteur est un vrai calvaire, et les activités illicites représentent pour beaucoup une alternative tentante. Hidir, qui est toujours resté loin de ces pratiques, se retrouve soudain mêlé à un trafic clandestin de moutons.

Actors