Adnan Barakat

The story of the film within the Abu Asaad family revolves around the inheritance of three brothers in the city of Hama in central Syria, but severe disagreements arise between them over how to divide this inheritance.

Based on the famous story, “Sa’ay El Bareed La Yaduq Babek Maratein” (The Postman Doesn’t Knock Twice), an adventurer escapes from danger by hiding in a small motel along the road. The motel is owned by an old, miserly man who is married to a young beautiful woman. Soon the fugitive and the wife develop a passionate relationship and plot to kill her husband. However, the old man’s son returns to spend the weekend in the motel and the plan goes off the rails.

The Yazerli is the foreman who provides work to day laborers. The film’s poetic, non-narrative structure simulates the fractured thoughts of a young boy who is forced to leave school and find work on the docks. Using minimal dialogue but evocative music and sounds, separate vignettes introduce characters the boy encounters in a single workday. The filmmaker explores the child’s vivid imaginary world while tangibly conveying the physical harshness and repressed sexuality of a life spent in poverty and manual labor. Based on a novella by Hanna Mina.