Before Your Eyes

Of Diyarbakir, Turkey, preteen Gulistan, adolescent Firat and newborn Dilovan - siblings - become orphaned when their mother and father, the latter a journalist, are killed in a roadside ambush while they are driving home late one night with the children in the backseat. The children become the wards of their maternal aunt, Yekbun, who wants to take them to Stockholm to live with their maternal grandfather. Leaving the children alone with some pocket money, Yekbun takes off for what she says will be two or three days while she makes the arrangements for the trip. Slowly, all other adult figures who they trust leave the children out of circumstance, while Yekbun does not return. The children have to figure out how to fend for themselves, at first waiting for their aunt to return, then coming to the conclusion that she may never return. As the children eventually are forced onto the streets, they quickly learn that there are many others like them, some also orphaned children, who will do anything needed to survive. As they adjust to their new circumstance on the street, both Gulistan and Firat, in separate incidents, have encounters with two of the men who murdered their parents, the men, in turn, who do not recognize the children from that dark night. Specifically in Gulistan's case, she learns of the man's identity, his background, and as such that her parent's death and possibly her aunt's disappearance were no random acts. They will have to decide what to do with this information to get at least a little sense of justice.