AllMovie

The homeland of the Kurds runs across the Middle East in a narrow band beginning in Turkey, continuing through Northern Iran and Iraq, and culminating in western Afghanistan. In all these nations, Kurds are an embattled minority; in some of them, the government is actively seeking to exterminate them entirely. In Turkey, what they suffer is more like cultural genocide than being murdered en mass. This drama is shot entirely in Kurdish, a language which is outlawed in Turkey. In the film, a group of village children are brought to hear an old teller of traditional tales. They are guarded by va woman whose job is to warn them if anyone approaches. As the storyteller relates his tale about an unlikely hero, Siyabend (Tarik Akan) and his love for Xece (Mine Cayiroglu), the story comes alive onscreen.