Sifir Dedigimde

Despite all its dazzling might and accomplishments, the modern world still fails to answer simple, rightful questions of its constituents: what is man, what is his purpose and what are the limits of his potential? In the darkness of the void left by the helpless silence of modern day teachings against these questions, individuals do the only thing they can: put boundaries around their expectation of what man is capable of and what his purpose might be and conform to the mediocre answers of modern day society. And those who are stubborn enough not to conform feel lost, detached or marginalized. But sometimes, a little help from someone who has experienced/mastered what we skeptically consider impossible and inexistent can open our eyes and lift the conservative, conforming glass boundaries in our minds.

This is what this movie conveys to me. Asli is one of those who is looking for meaning and stubborn enough not to settle for an answer that only constitues what is immediately visible to us: our world. She dreams of other worlds with a lot of different possibilities. But being alone in her way of thinking, she feels detached and lost.

Dr. Melih is the exact opposite of Asli; the ultimate conformist. His focus and way of thinking is directed towards what man is NOT capable of and why he is not capable of more. Albeit a scholar and an intellectual, Dr. Melih is a self-imposed conservative bounded by the dictates of only one of the many talents bestowed upon man: logic & reasoning around concrete facts.

Nevin is one of the vast bulk of people who fill the spectrum defined by Asli and Dr. Melih. She has conformed; but still feels confused and shallow, pulled apart by her conviction to scientific fact and her rather intuitive insight that more can be possible than what we know to be true for sure.

It is Oguz who is a man of purpose; who, although crippled to bound to live in an old house with his mother in an island stranded to live there all his life with no potential to ever see/experience anything else, taps into an unknown potential of man and frees himself from the chains of his ill-fated life. The irony laid out by the movie is interesting to note: It is those who live in the 'real', 'enlightened', 'free' world of society who are actually 'improsened' by their skepticism of the potential of the workings of universe and man as opposed to Oguz who is a cripple living in isolation bound to live in a basement who actually breaks free and endeavors many worlds. Interestingly, an analytical 'reasoning' based on what is immediately visible to the naked eye would suggest just the opposite; implying that man isn't a being that can only rely on his most basic 5 senses and what they suggest since as tangible and indisputable as they seem, they too can be deceiving. It is one of the purposes of Oguz to show these people that there are other capabilities in man that can be employed to understand our world. He expresses his purpose both as a child to his mother saying he'll use his feathers (unique gifts) for something special; not just simply call a princess. And when he finally does show the others his 'feather', the boundaries that have been beholding them thus far are lifted and they find meaning and purpose themselves. We see Asli in peace and tranquility with these strangers. Hers is a vindication that other worlds exist and there are other people who are like her. Dr. Melih and Nevin are at the frontier of a journey that challenges the dogma around the consensus on the barriers of human potential. They are no longer focused on what man isn't capable of. In contrast, they are about to tell the world what more man is capable of.

This movie is not about hypnosis, weird incidents and spooky things. It is about being open-minded, understanding man and appreciating and celebrating all of its known capabilities; not only intellectual ones but also spiritual and possible metaphysical ones. It is about breaking free from the dogmatic conviction of having to depend on reason alone to understand life and conceive a purpose; but rather making use of all of the capabilities bestowed upon man all at once and in harmony to feel complete and find a truly fulfilling purpose. This movie, in my opinion, is about becoming free.

Modern men's definition of truth has transformed the paradigmatic approaches designed to understand man himself into an enigma, and as a result when evaluating faith/free will, absolute evil/absolute good or even day/night which surround him, but in fact are not in opposition or conflict with each other, men has come to see them all at war with one another.

"On the Count of Zero" (Sifir Dedigimde) is the story of how this seemingly conflicting elements do in fact converge into the same direction and serve the same purpose. When evaluated from this viewpoint, the separation between soul and body, physics and metaphysics is lifted and serve to support the harmony of the story when combined with the film's beautiful editing and music.

All that has happened in the story has happened in order to lift the lead character Asli's understanding to the levels of 'knowing'. There is an apparent conflict, when in fact the 'evil' is only there as an instrument to drive the 'good' into completion, into perfection.

When evaluated in terms of film language and storytelling, the cinematic elements of conflict have been viewed in a new light to elevate conflict into the levels of imagination, and 'knowing' into the levels of 'truth'. The film has also intended to debate the concept of 'men as the greatest mystery of fate, and fate as the greatest mystery of men' on an intellectual level. In the end we have been presented by a book and a film entwined, an attention grabbing spectacle for the viewer and a story to be read to reach it's depths like a book.