Snow and the Bear

Asli is a nurse wholly committed to her profession even when it means relocating to a remote Turkish town with provincial beliefs and sub-zero temperatures. Though the villagers warn her of bear attacks from the neighboring forest, Asli finds more to fear from some of the men around her. One, a brutish womanizer, objects to Asli prescribing bedrest for his pregnant wife. Another appears kind but arouses Asli’s suspicions that he could be stalking her. When a citizen disappears, rather than take a good look in the mirror to find a culprit, townsfolk point fingers at the bears or Asli. Director Selcen Ergun expertly balances the tension between patriarchal tradition and modernity, crafting a chilly mystery-drama that hones in on the wilderness inside humanity as much as the woods that surround Asli’s new home.