After the fall of Saddam Hussein, a Kurdish war hero and cop, Baran, and a schoolteacher, Govend, are sent to a lawless Turkish border town ruled by a corrupt tribal chief. They intend to clean up and set up a new order but are only treated as unwelcome outsiders. World-renowned director Hiner Saleem’s ninth feature film begins with the hanging of a man. In this scene, the man dies letting out a howl of anguish to the woman he loves, and the men in power end up in a confused state while taking care of the situation. This first sequence represents the director’s comical, cynical perspective for the chaotic situations in the wake of Kurdish independence. This perspective is repeatedly found in various scenes, and genre variations are one of the most outstanding factors in the film. In this “Kurdish Western” where good and evil collide with each other against the backdrop of rhythmic theme music and barren scenery, the film stands out as an extraordinary piece that shows both the director’s affection for his people and a capacity for introspection and humor. (RHEE Soue-won)