Movie review: Waiting for the clouds

 

The movie, Waiting for the Clouds, depicts the story of an elderly woman named Ajshe, who was a survivor of the turbulent 1920’s that reshaped the Balkans by war, genocides, evictions, forced population exchanges, new nation formation/expansion, political ideological clashes and nationalistic fervor on all sides. 

Ajshe never though forgot her childhood identity and memories which she kept hidden deep inside her for many years.  At a very young age she was one of the victims of those turbulent times when she, known then as Eleni, was given by her father, after a difficult march from their native Mersin (southern Turkey) to a Muslim family from the Black Sea region (Pontos-Karadeniz) who promised to protect and rear her as their own. 

Eleni’s family roots were Rum (Christian).  There in Pontos Eleni (Ajshe) lived for many years yearning especially to reunite with a long lost brother who got caught up in the great population exchange between Muslims from the areas newly acquired by Greece and Christians from the newly formed state of Turkey known as the Laussane Treaty of 1922.

The movie was interesting as it was based on some true elements in history that surrounded the Communist movement taking place in Turkey in the early 1970s.  Apparently, it seems that Ajshe’s father, in the early 1920s, may have been a communist who were seen by the Turkish state as sympathizers with communist Russia and therefore traitors.  Russia was one of the powers who dreamt at a piece of the pie after the dismemberment of the Ottoman State and dreamt of the incorporation of Turkish land into her nation.

As history tells us, the Pontians (Karadenizler) mainly live in Northern and North Eastern Turkey most of whom for various reasons chose to convert to Islam during the Ottoman period, although quite a few remained Christian, and so you will see that their language is a mix of an old Hellenic form and Turkish. A fraction of Pontians (Christians) were forcefully expelled to Greece in the 1922 exchange of populations and were settled into lands and homes of Muslims forced out of Greece.

Even though the movie had some religious elements to it, it was mainly focused on political ideological struggles and to a lesser extent ethnic ideas and conflicts and therefore, I do not recommend watching it to gain anything Islamic out of it since there were some folklore practices mentioned that have nothing to do with Islam but with local practices that predate Islam and perhaps even Christianity.

But, if you’re just looking for an emotional movie filled with human tenderness and beautiful scenery, and just a slight insight into political/ethnic tensions this just might be the movie for you.