A slow-starting drama that gathers speed and force as it proceeds, As We Breathe transforms from a social realist tale of rural poverty and misfortune into a much more interesting and complex examination of family dynamics and hidden emotional needs that blaze up violently. The first feature of Turkish filmmaker and producer Seyhmus Altun, who directed the award-winning short All Lights We Can’t See (2020), it is set against the growing tension of an uncontained wildfire that gives the relationship drama a powerful urgency. Its emphasis on atmosphere and naturalistic acting is engaging to watch and should see it through festivals, after bowing in San Sebastian’s New Directors section. The Turkish-Danish coprod was a WIP Europa work-in-progress at the festival last year.
The story literally opens with a bang as something goes wrong at a chemical factory in the countryside and a series of fearful explosions rock the building. In the ensuing chaos, smoke and flames blind and choke the workers who rush to the doors and find them locked. Cevahir Sahin’s camera describes the hellish scene in strong colors over loud sounds like exploding bombs, reaches the point of pandemonium, then cuts.
The fire soon spreads to the surrounding forests in a massive blaze that firefighters are unable to contain. The air is toxic to humans and to their dairy cows, who start to sicken and die. All this is seen through the panicked eyes of a factory maintenance man, movingly played by Hakan Karsak in a performance easy to empathize with. He lives on a nearby farm with his elderly mother and his four children. With the factory destroyed, he can’t make ends meet, and the bank refuses him a loan.
Since the grandmother and the eldest boy Eyup (Ruzgar Usta) both need medical attention, an enormous workload falls on the frail shoulders of the only daughter, Esme (Defne Zeynap Enci), who looks to be around ten. Now she milks the cows in granny’s place and cuts school to sell homemade cheese at the market. Wise beyond her years and very keen to please her Dad, she is silent and uncommunicative about her own needs and wants, which are building up dangerously.
Though it can feel like a chore getting through the painstakingly recounted details of the film’s slow first half, the narrative builds nicely as the stakes are raised and the screws tightened on the father, both economically and emotionally. Yet even in the midst of his anxiety, he patiently responds to the ceaseless chatter of his little preschool boys, buys Eyup a school bag, and takes the family on a picnic.
At the same time, the wildfire is coming closer and closer. When the police arrive to tell the family to evacuate, he is completely defeated. There is no place to go. The cattle will have to be shot. Here the encroaching blaze begins to be really felt — visualized as a dark smoke cloud wafting over the countryside, while the population wears handkerchiefs over their mouths to breathe. Though on a smaller but still lethal scale, the tension and anxiety of looming environmental death is as palpable as the great dust clouds choking the plains in Interstellar, while a father and daughter look on helplessly. Only in Altun’s world, there is no option to flee disaster aboard a spaceship. The best that little Esme can do is make a gesture to communicate with Dad, even if it is a violent one.
Director, screenwriter: Seyhmus Altun
Producers: Seyhmus Altun, Fevziye Hazal Yazan
Cast: Defne Zeynep Enci, Hakan Karsak, Ruzgar Usta, Sacide Tasaner
Cinematography: Cevahir Sahin
Editing: Evrin Lus
Music: Artem Litovchenko
Sound: Post Garden
Production companies: Jurnal Kolektif (Turkey), Punktur Pictures (Denmark)
World sales: Arthood Entertainment
Venue: San Sebastian Intl. Film Festival (New Directors)
In Turkish
95 minutes
