Can you see this picture? I took it a few days ago in the suburbs of Izmir. I like to take pictures of animals, especially horses. So, as soon as I saw those horses I took my camera and I shot. I shot first the horses. Then I saw a donkey, alone, on the opposite side of the field. So I took a picture also only of him. Then I took a photo of the whole scene, the horses on one side, the donkey on the other side, to catch the distance between them.
Then I watched again the picture and I saw there is a barbed wire in it. Finally I stopped and I thought if this picture wants to tell me something.
The day I decided to give the movie this name, "Katırlar doğurunca" (when the mules will give birth), I was only thinking of a tale of Herodotus, where he is mentioning the story of the siege of Babylon by Xerxes, the king of Persians. One citizen of Babylon, after years of useless siege, shouted at the king outside the walls: "Xerxes, it's better if you go back to Persia, because you will be able to conquer Babylon only when the mules will give birth".
But then Xerxes could find a mule who gave birth and so then he could conquer Babylon. As you probably know, the mules can not give birth as they are sons of a donkey and a horse and so as hybrid animals, they are sterile. So, normally, "when the mules will give birth" means "never".
Normally. But who knows, as it happened to Xerxes, if one day one mule could give birth, therefore everything will be possible too.
This story was meaning exactly what I was looking for. There are things in life that really seem they will never happen. But it's not for this reason that people stop fighting for them to come true. And it's not a count on the chances that makes this people still be in struggle. To be faithful in our principles is a way to define ourselves, much more than a mere count on the chances to be successful and to see our principles be applied in the reality. And, at the end, to define ourselves is a heavier need than to be successful.
That's why there are people who still keep on fighting for something despite cruel reality.
But at a certain point, after I already chose this title, I start thinking if there was a deeper meaning in this sentence. Who knows? But to me it happened to see a glimpse of a second meaning, at least according to this movie. It's a meaning concerning differences. For example the one between a donkey and a horse. But there are many more. Between East and West, for instance. Between you and me. Between left and right. Between a woman and a man. Between the past and the future.
All these opposites happen to touch at times. From this touch something is born, let's imagine. But the new being is something sterile. It is something that still is not able to generate something else. It is like a single experience that one day will disappear without any trace.
So what it means to wait for the mules to give birth?
It means wondering if one day what we have been and what we have done together will be able to generate something else by its own following the same line. Wondering, I mean, if what we have been together and what we have done together, will leave a trace of it or will disappear after its life.
So, what this picture is here to say, now? There's a barbed wire which isolates a field. In this field there are some horses and a donkey alone. Horses and the donkey are watching in the opposite direction, they are ignoring each other. Without their encounter, I mean without a mule, the miracle will be definitively impossible.
Should we hope one day that they will look to each other, maybe due to spring and good season?
"The hope is a trap", I heard to be said by Mario Monicelli, recently. Yes, I agree completely.
I don't hope. I don't have any hope. I have some principles which define myself. So I know what I should fight for. To keep on fight is the only responsibility I feel. To keep the chance open is my struggle. To achieve this, to achieve that one day what seems to be impossible will come true, is something which doesn't belong to my possibilities. I am only a little man lost in the world.
So, as I never had really a hope, even now that the donkey and the horses are watching in the opposite direction, I didn't lose my hope. It's a matter of times. And I will still keep on fighting.
Then I watched again the picture and I saw there is a barbed wire in it. Finally I stopped and I thought if this picture wants to tell me something.
The day I decided to give the movie this name, "Katırlar doğurunca" (when the mules will give birth), I was only thinking of a tale of Herodotus, where he is mentioning the story of the siege of Babylon by Xerxes, the king of Persians. One citizen of Babylon, after years of useless siege, shouted at the king outside the walls: "Xerxes, it's better if you go back to Persia, because you will be able to conquer Babylon only when the mules will give birth".
But then Xerxes could find a mule who gave birth and so then he could conquer Babylon. As you probably know, the mules can not give birth as they are sons of a donkey and a horse and so as hybrid animals, they are sterile. So, normally, "when the mules will give birth" means "never".
Normally. But who knows, as it happened to Xerxes, if one day one mule could give birth, therefore everything will be possible too.
This story was meaning exactly what I was looking for. There are things in life that really seem they will never happen. But it's not for this reason that people stop fighting for them to come true. And it's not a count on the chances that makes this people still be in struggle. To be faithful in our principles is a way to define ourselves, much more than a mere count on the chances to be successful and to see our principles be applied in the reality. And, at the end, to define ourselves is a heavier need than to be successful.
That's why there are people who still keep on fighting for something despite cruel reality.
But at a certain point, after I already chose this title, I start thinking if there was a deeper meaning in this sentence. Who knows? But to me it happened to see a glimpse of a second meaning, at least according to this movie. It's a meaning concerning differences. For example the one between a donkey and a horse. But there are many more. Between East and West, for instance. Between you and me. Between left and right. Between a woman and a man. Between the past and the future.
All these opposites happen to touch at times. From this touch something is born, let's imagine. But the new being is something sterile. It is something that still is not able to generate something else. It is like a single experience that one day will disappear without any trace.
So what it means to wait for the mules to give birth?
It means wondering if one day what we have been and what we have done together will be able to generate something else by its own following the same line. Wondering, I mean, if what we have been together and what we have done together, will leave a trace of it or will disappear after its life.
So, what this picture is here to say, now? There's a barbed wire which isolates a field. In this field there are some horses and a donkey alone. Horses and the donkey are watching in the opposite direction, they are ignoring each other. Without their encounter, I mean without a mule, the miracle will be definitively impossible.
Should we hope one day that they will look to each other, maybe due to spring and good season?
"The hope is a trap", I heard to be said by Mario Monicelli, recently. Yes, I agree completely.
I don't hope. I don't have any hope. I have some principles which define myself. So I know what I should fight for. To keep on fight is the only responsibility I feel. To keep the chance open is my struggle. To achieve this, to achieve that one day what seems to be impossible will come true, is something which doesn't belong to my possibilities. I am only a little man lost in the world.
So, as I never had really a hope, even now that the donkey and the horses are watching in the opposite direction, I didn't lose my hope. It's a matter of times. And I will still keep on fighting.
Hard to believe it, eh, Miche? Don't worry, "non ragioniam di loro ma guarda e passa" (Dante Alighieri, "The divine comedy", Hell, III canto, verse 53): "let us not talk about them, just look and pass them over".
Hard to believe, eh, Özgür?
