Sero is a six-year-old Kurdish child whom we follow through his first year of school, a decisive time which changes his life forever. Not only does his mother die from a gunshot wound, the bullet fired “unintentionally” by a soldier patrolling the country’s border, he also finds his entire tiny world revolutionised by the indoctrination meted out by a new teacher who has been sent from Damascus to take up the reins of the Arab school attended by Sero. The absurd brand of nationalism adhered to by his teacher clashes with the peaceful coexistence of the town’s inhabitants (which transcends religion and roots) and shatters the small certainties enjoyed by Sero and his classmates.
