HALEF

HALEF, 2018
Turkey | DCP, Color, 104’ | Turkish
Director: Murat Düzgünoğlu
Cast: Muhammed Uzuner, Baran Şükrü Babacan, Güler Ökten

Mahir is a math teacher who is originally from Adana but has been living in Istanbul for some time. He returns to his hometown to help his mother with the orange harvest. Here, he obstinately refuses to believe Halef, who claims he is the reincarnation of Mahir’s long deceased older brother. But many people in the village do believe Halef. Even Mahir’s mother –who is supposedly Halef’s mother both “in his previous life” and this life– has accepted the situation. Whereas Mahir, who looks at life from a logical perspective and has urban reflexes that come from living in Istanbul, thinks that all of this is absurd. But even he will find himself questioning his truths and beliefs when faced with the villagers’ deep faith in the mystical.