Neil Gregson

A beautiful movie - slow moving at first but hang in there and you will be richly rewarded! Jan, only son of two wealthy Manhattan bankers has all that he needs - financial security, a beautiful American girlfriend; he studies music at an elite university etc.; but when his estranged Turkish grandma falls seriously ill, his father's work demands require Jan to step in as the dutiful grandson, and he oversees her final days in a private hospital room. During this time, Jan appears indifferent, even sullen about the undertaking of this rather dull chore - she does not speak English, he is reluctant to speak his native Turkish; she is a stranger to him; but they make the most unlikely connection with a song. The grandma sings him a beautiful old Kurdish folk song, a love story about Zer, a handsome shepherd. It appears strange that she know this Kurdish song when she speaks only Turkish, and Jan's curiosity is roused. Sadly, within a matter of days, she dies, and so begins Jan's journey to seek the origins of this haunting song. As he wanders across remote Kurdistan, he inadvertently discovers for the first time in his life a genuine sense of purpose; we witness an awakening of his own authentic identity, an emerging true happiness, and the realisation of his true destiny. A wonderful movie!