Atiye/ The Gift (Netflix)

Bong Joon Ho in his Golden Globes acceptance speech said, “Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” This is the most simple yet profound thing I have heard about cinema or well, anything related to popular media in a long time. It especially stood true while I binged Atiye/The Gift, a Turkish web series streaming on Netflix. Based upon a novel by Şengül Boybaş, the series features Beren Serat as Atiye and Mehmet Günsür as Professor Erhan Kurtiz.

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The show follows the story of Atiye, an artist based in Istanbul who has been painting a symbol since childhood and has now launched an exhibition of her finest works. She has got into a ‘perfect’ place in her life according to her sister Cansu with her life flourishing with success and engagement to her boyfriend Ozan, but a series of supernatural occurrences disturb the momentum of her life. Atiye begins to see an old woman appearing wherever she goes, and suddenly one night after waking up from a nightmare which has been having since childhood, she reads an article online about an archeological discovery at Göbekli Tepe by Professor Erhan Kurtiz. It features the same symbol she has been drawing for years. Feeling a relief which she hasn’t ever felt before, she begins to investigate more about the symbol to understand her own connection to it. The series focuses upon the journey to find her connection to this symbol and the self of which she isn’t aware. Along the road, the secrets of both her and Kurtiz’s families slip out which are coloured in red.

It’s an 8-episode series which revolves around the themes of spirituality and self-discovery but puts it forward through the genre of mystery, drama and fantasy. The narrative is refreshing and keeps one hooked just long enough to look for the next puzzle piece. Character development takes place for most of the characters in the narrative, as it attempts to provide a unique and complex storyline to every character. The actors are brilliant in their roles; feeling the grief, confusion, loss and connection in its perfect measure of human sentimentality. The show also politically comments upon the good ol’ relationship between the hunter and lion, with the hunter’s glorified castle falling to ruins due to his own deceits.

The cinematography is a masterpiece flaunting the brilliant and exhilarating sights of Turkey. The visual concepts are breath-taking in their synchronization with the narrative. One of the shots feature Atiye emerging out of a hilltop, lying in a foetus position which signifies her re-birth as her new self who has faced the shadows of her soul and now possesses the knowledge of her true power. The shot epitomizes the director’s vision as it creates a fusion of the innate mysticism which lies within a human existence, which is perhaps the underlying motive of the narrative.

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