Film Review: NOAH LAND: Come for the Story, Stay for the Characters [Tribeca 2019]

Noah Land Review

Noah Land (2019) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Cenk Ertürk, starring Ali Atay, Haluk Bilginer, Hande Dogandemir, Arin Kusaksizoglu, and Mehmet Özgür.

Noah Land tells an intriguing story with a cast of richly imperfect characters. Ömer (Ali Atay), who is established almost immediately to be decently unkind, is going through a divorce with his pregnant ex-wife Elif (Hande Dogandemir) while at the same time his formerly estranged father, Ibrahim (Haluk Bilginer), is nearing the end of his life. At Ibrahim’s request, he and Ömer travel to the village where Ibrahim lived as a child.

Ömer learns the reason for their visit at the same time as the audience: Ibrahim has come here to be buried. This village is a place of pilgrimage, as it is home to a tree said to be planted by Noah (yes, the Noah). The conflict begins when Ibrahim claims that this tree was not planted by Noah, but in fact by himself, 50 years ago.

The main plot of the movie follows Ömer’s efforts- despite uncertainty about whether he believes his father’s claim- to prove that Ibrahim has this right. Ömer meets people of various roles in the village in his quest, using both peaceful and violent methods of persuasion. Ömer’s commitment to winning the argument between his father and the villagers who believe this tree was planted by Noah is a curious one: Ömer and his father have a contentious relationship and honestly don’t seem to know each other well. The film does not explain why Ömer feels so compelled to champion this cause for Ibrahim. Ömer’s actions feel authentic, though, and even though he continuously tries to talk Ibrahim out of his motivation, he himself refuses to give up hope.

Noah Land‘s treatment of its characters is a curious one: it requires very little dialog to develop deep, complicated renderings of Ömer, Elif, and Ibrahim as individuals and in relation to each other. And yet, I would argue that none of these characters undergoes an arc. The audience learns more and more about them as the story plays out, but the characters themselves don’t seem to change. The film maintains a somewhat static tone and pace in general, with many scenes of silence or sparse dialog, and far more world-building than plot-moving moments throughout the film.

This refusal to neatly package interactions or messages in character, pace, and tone, feels on-brand for the film’s main existential conflicts as well. Noah Land poses questions about the tension between religious texts as literal history versus cultural touchstone and about whether people can ever truly redeem themselves in the context of history or of relationships. For better or for worse, the reader is left to answer these questions for themselves. The story ends not when the problems are solved but when it is time for Ibrahim to be buried (don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away).

Noah Land‘s strength lies in its imperfect characters who all admit or display their shortcomings and yet whose lives we come to care about throughout the course of the movie. It feels that the plot falls away as we become immersed in the relationships between Ömer and Ibrahim and Ömer and Elif. I even came to care quite a bit about Ahmet (Arin Kusaksizoglu), the unwaveringly kind, good, and wise village teacher who gives to and prays for everyone involved in the story. It is through the collection of characters, who all care very deeply and who acknowledge their faults, whether or not they contribute to the story’s minimal action, that Noah Land truly shines.

Rating: 7/10.