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Snow and the Bear

Snow and the Bear

Movie · 2022 · 3 people

Selcen Ergün directed Snow and the Bear (Turkish: Kar ve Ayı), a 2022 drama whose screenplay she wrote with Yeşim Aslan. Shot in Turkish, it is a co-production of Turkey, Germany and Serbia and runs one hour and thirty-three minutes. After being shown at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, it opened in Turkish cinemas on 8 September 2023.

At its centre is Aslı, a young nurse posted for her compulsory service to a remote town where winter never seems to end. Rumours say the bears have woken early from hibernation. When a resident, Hasan, vanishes overnight, gossip multiplies and Aslı finds herself caught between suspicion and shared secrets. The cast includes Merve Dizdar, Asiye Dinçsoy, Erkan Bektaş and Saygın Soysal.

Reviews were mixed: three press critics averaged 3.3 out of 5 and eighteen viewers averaged 3.2. One critic gave it 2.5, arguing that the film tries to build a monotonous sense of unease in the provinces through snow and bear imagery, but that Hasan's disappearance lets viewers reach the solution too easily, and that the suspicion cast on Samet only nudges the story toward a detective plot.

DirectorSelcen Ergün
Snow and the Bear Snow and the Bear

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Cast

Asiye Dinçsoy Asiye Dinçsoy Actor · 47 years old Erkan Bektaş Erkan Bektaş Actor · 54 years old Merve Dizdar Merve Dizdar Actor · 40 years old

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Written by Selcen Ergün with Yeşim Aslan, the film sets out to turn snow and rumours of bears into a metaphor for a provincial town's trapped state of mind, and the atmosphere of a winter that never ends carries the place's narrow horizon well. The outsider's eye of Aslı, a young nurse there on compulsory service, gives the story the right axis, and a cast including Merve Dizdar, Asiye Dinçsoy and Erkan Bektaş is well balanced. Yet over just over an hour and a half the tension stays on one note, and the mystery built around Hasan's disappearance surprises an attentive viewer less than it should. The mixed reviews are understandable. The images are strong; the script's structure is not bold enough to match them.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A missing man, bears said to have woken early from hibernation, a town buried in snow: on paper it is exactly my kind of thriller. The atmosphere really is cold and eerie, but the film never lifts its pace. As the scenes of suspicion and gossip stretch on, curiosity turns into impatience. It is fairly short, yet a tighter edit could have made it far more gripping. If you are after a fast thriller, expect some disappointment.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film looks at the closed social fabric of the provinces through the eyes of a young nurse sent to a remote town for her compulsory service. Its most interesting layer is the suggestion that a woman health worker posted by the state can be both needed and kept on the outside in a place where everyone knows everyone. The gossip that multiplies after Hasan's disappearance shows how, in small places, the truth takes shape somewhere between shared secrets and rumour. Even the talk of bears reads like a way of voicing the town's fears. Local as the story is, it offers an observation that anyone familiar with tight-knit communities will recognise.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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