MILK
SYNOPSIS
Recent high school graduate Yusuf is uncertain about his future in the provincial countryside. Writing poetry is his greatest passion and some of his poems are starting to be published in obscure literary journals. But for the time being, he continues working in his single mother's village milk business, also with an uncertain future.
Up until now, Yusuf's widowed mother Zehra has focused all her attention on her only child. Still a young and beautiful woman, Zehra is having a discreet relationship with the town station master. His mother's affair, and his being named unfit for military service due to a childhood illness, make Yusuf even more anxious about making the sudden jump toward manhood.
Will young Yusuf be able to handle the changes in his peaceful existence? Can he survive on poetry and working alongside his mother in her small-time milk business? Or will he be forced to move to the big city or seek a job in one of the many factories threatening the unspoiled landscape?
DIRECTOR'S NOTE
About two years ago in February 2005, while in Berlin for the 55th Berlinale and the world premiere in the Forum Section of my second film Meleğin Düşüşü/ Angel's Fall, I found that my horizons were greatly broadened by the perspectives of some directors towards their own provinces.
After returning to Turkey I traveled around some of the provincial areas of Anatolia and there I saw some very major changes taking place. It was from that the idea of the stories to make up a trilogy of films I have called the "Yusuf Trilogy" was first born. The names of the films are Milk, Egg, and Honey. These three stories take place in three different regions of Anatolia, places with different climates and geographies: The Central Aegean (EGG), Central Anatolia (MILK) and Eastern Black Sea (HONEY)
Each of these stories has a mother-son relationship.
Turkey's rural areas, especially that of Central Anatolia, have been undergoing huge social, economic, and cultural changes during the past several years. A new way of life has awakened in those towns and villages that used to rely solely on agricultural pursuits and animal husbandry, due to the factories and the dams being built in the areas, and/or the mines being opened. The new employment opportunities and the dynamics brought about by widespread migration have deeply affected family structure, a structure that was traditionally the unassailable fortress of the entire region.
These new ways of living have not only changed the area economically speaking, but have also forced a change to traditional mores. While some view this transformation from soil to industry, from field to factory, as a ray of hope, god-sent vehicle towards a 'bright future,' for others these major changes have brought about 'chaos and strife.'
