A Film Against the Coldness of the Human Heart: "The Cold"

Abstract

Forced migration / exile is as old as human history. Even in the archaeological excavations dating back thousands of years, it was found that human communities were subjected to forced population movements and had to leave their lands and homes. Currently, the concept of exile still affects the individual lives of human masses and forcibly causes them to change their homeland. Immigration and exile issues also concern cinema, which is one of the most important instruments of popular culture. The directors have made a substantial number of films on themes of migration and exile, from local to international.  They problematized the suffering and tragedy of the people and tried to open a window to audience what an exile means to human societies or individuals. This article is critically analyze the Russian (then S.S.C.B.) film director Hussein Erkenov’s 1991 film "Cold" from a social, political and historical point of view. Cold is about the exile of the Karachay people who were forced to leave their their homeland on November 2, 1943 by the order of the Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin. It can be argued that the film represents a first in cinema in that it sheds light on the little-known fact of exile of Karachay people. In this context, it is hoped that the article will contribute to the cinema literature with an analysis of a lesser-known director and his film in Turkey. It is aimed to illuminate four basic issues with a historical approach, such as the political analysis of the Karachay exile, the evaluation of the historical background of the Karachay exile and its effects on human life, the relationship between cinema and history and the evaluation of the metaphorical images in the film.