» Subscribe for award-winning short films: http://sub2.omele.to » Get some merch: http://shop.omele.to The Translator is used with permission from Emre Kayis. Learn more at http://omele.to/2UPnSds. THE BEST OF OMELETO » Celebrities on Omeleto: http://omele.to/celebrities » Top-Rated Films: http://omele.to/toprated » Official Selection: http://omele.to/officialselection OMELETO ON SOCIAL Instagram: https://ift.tt/2GZNY43 Twitter: http://twitter.com/omeletocom Facebook: https://ift.tt/2HAP5Z4 Reddit: https://ift.tt/2FOuVIu Yusuf is a shy, withdrawn teenage boy in exile as a Syrian refugee in a remote Turkish border town, living with his sick grandparents. Others in his area call him "Arab." Alienated and needled for his difference in his poor neighborhood, he spends much of his time alone. Yusuf works at a sand quarry to help support the family and at the factory, he has his eye on a young girl and fellow refugee named Amina. But he is too bashful to approach her directly. But to his surprise, Amina asks Yusef to help her learn Turkish. They arrange to meet for their first lesson, only for Yusuf to realize that Amina has called him over for an entirely different reason -- one that gives him an opportunity to exercise his newfound power, though not without its cost. Writer-director Emre Kayis offers a richly textured drama that applies the eternal themes of teenage alienation, romantic longing and unrequited love to a uniquely devastating setting. The film takes considerable time and care in capturing the sounds, sights and sensations of its main character's surroundings, and captures both its desolate poetry and its arid emotional emptiness of what being a refugee and outsider can feel like. Within this disquieting milieu, Yusuf's story achieves both the poignancy of youthful experience and gestures towards a larger sense of tragedy. The first half of the film has a meditative feel, with observational yet sensuous cinematography and sound design portraying the quarry where Yusuf works and the neighborhood he lives in. The grit of the sand, the beating of birds' wings as they take flight, the shadows of the night upon the grandfather's face as he coughs but lights up a cigarette anyway: these are the details that make up the tapestry to Yusuf's life, and speak to both Yusuf's watchful, contemplative character and the isolation of his world. Very few people talk to the young boy, and when they do, he's made to feel his difference from the others in his neighborhood. So when Amina finally seems to notice him, it's not hard to feel his hope or excitement, and understand what a momentous development this is for him. The film's second half then develops at a relatively faster pace, though the craftsmanship retains the same sense of quietude and stillness that suffused the film throughout. Within this sense of separation and isolation, however, the film's "twist" still achieves its impact upon both Yusuf and the viewer. Once Yusuf realizes what is really going on and just why Amina reaches out to him, the narrative heads into a scene that is both entirely understandable for the choice that Yusuf makes, and brutally clear-eyed about its ultimate cost. "The Translator" in many ways functions as both a historical document of the status of the refugee in modern history as well as a poignant, heartbreaking story of first love and broken hopes, rendered with a remarkable degree of poeticism, empathy and patience. The combination produces unique emotional resonances: most everyone can relate to having a crush that just doesn't work out, but when the experience is situated in a unique geopolitical situation, the isolation and sadness don't just feel painful. It feels tragic, for it compounds Yusuf's already painfully lonely life, which offers few consolations in return. It isn't just an unrequited crush anymore, but an extinguishing of hope -- one that barely had time to blossom before it was snuffed out like a candle in the night. ABOUT OMELETO Omeleto is the home of award-winning short films. We showcase Sundance winners, Oscar noms and critically-acclaimed filmmakers from every genre. Subscribe for more: http://sub2.omele.to A young refugee discovers he has a power -- but at a terrible cost. | The Translator http://youtu.be/RG2KEYdzZrU https://ift.tt/2JTHarD Omeleto http://www.youtube.com/c/Omeleto http://omeleto.com 🎬 Got a film? Submit it to us for consideration at http://submit2.omele.to
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