What Happens in Yunan?
The complete story of Yunan, from the first scene to the last, in 230 words (about 1 minute). Spoilers throughout.
Spoilers ahead
Munir, a Syrian writer living in exile in Germany, experiences writer’s block and loneliness. Only through the Internet can he maintain contact with his sister and his mother, who is suffering from dementia but responds to Munir’s wish to re-hear the story of an ill-fated shepherd and his wife. After a visit to his doctor offers no physical reasons for his shortness of breath, Munir travels by ferry to the sparsely inhabited island of Langeneß, one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea and asks to book a room for one night at a tourist inn run by an elderly, eccentric widow and her gruff, unfriendly son. After an initial rebuffal he is reluctantly given a room in a remote, uninhabited farmhouse. Munir has brought along a gun and struggles with the idea of committing suicide. Moved by Munir’s quiet, polite demeanor, the widow begins to show him some hospitality.
Due to warnings of a heavy storm which is expected to flood much of the island, Munir is invited to relocate to the main guesthouse for the following night. He continues to have dreams of the shepherd and his solitary life in the hills (of a Middle Eastern country). Through his experiences of the island’s natural beauty and harshness and the interactions with his hosts and a few of the island’s residents, Munir’s desire for life is slowly rekindled.
