10/09/2024 - VENICE 2024: Murat Fıratoğlu demonstrates sophistication and poetry in depicting the everyday life of a character who refuses to give in to the unjust law of the strongest, despite harassment

Composed of long, meditative sequence shots, One of Those Days When Hemme Dies - the debut feature film by Turkish director and lawyer Murat Fıratoğlu, winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti section - takes us inside the private world of a character wrestling with the injustices of a world where worth depends on earnings. Of a seeming and disarming simplicity, One of Those Days When Hemme Dies is a film which forces the audience to stop and observe the small everyday actions of life, the small but significant acts of rebellion carried out by souls who have no intention of laying down arms.

Eyüp, the film’s protagonist (played by the director himself), slaves away beneath the relentless sun harvesting tomatoes in south-eastern Turkey. He subjects himself to this inhumane regime because he desperately needs to pay a debt which might otherwise land him in prison. Following a clash with his supervisor, Eyüp roams the city devising a radical plan which might return a little stability and dignity to his life.

One of Those Days When Hemme Dies doesn’t focus on urban life or modern society; instead, the director looks to explore the human, existential problems which torment his protagonists. Composed of poetic, introspective sequence shots which can sometimes last as long as eight minutes, Fıratoğlu’s first feature film encourages the audience to live at Eyüp’s pace, sharing his pauses, his moments of introspection, but also his anxiety and existential doubts. During these pauses, viewers can reflect on their own lives, on the small and seemingly insignificant ups and downs of day-to-day life. In this sense, Eyüp guides us towards a world where taking a break becomes essential, a gentler world which allows us to slow down and observe the beauty around us. Sustaining this state of poetic apathy are the silences - the undisputed protagonists of this film which conveys more with images than with words. The director seems to be looking to capture the pace of life itself, the inevitable moments of stasis where nothing happens, where the body appears immobile but the mind is furiously active.

Just like the silences, the landscapes - places where human beings don’t dare venture - becomes characters unto themselves. The images of fields covered in dazzling white tarpaulins and bursting with red tomatoes, all surrounded by seductively barren, yellow mountains and by a sky too blue to be real, are stupendous in this sense. But, when the workers arrive, this Eden-like land turns into hostile ground where abuse becomes common currency. The working conditions are terrible, without any form of social security, as if this paradise had suddenly morphed into hell. Even though One of Those Days When Hemme Dies focuses on the rural workers’ struggles, on the right to having basic needs met and to having a dignified job that’s respectful of the individual, the director also dares to tackle the topics of toxic masculinity, violence and pride. The film is, in fact, dominated by men, and by characters who sink to grotesque measures to impose and preserve their dominion. Eyüp seems to want to escape this vicious circle to seek out a balance and “respect” which aren’t based on the law of the jungle but on tolerance and solidarity. One of Those Days When Hemme Dies is an aesthetically powerful first film which turns simplicity into a battleground.

One of Those Days When Hemme Dies was produced by Murat Fıratoğlu and sold worldwide by Luxbox.

(Translated from Italian)