"A Journey Through All Terrains"

YOL

Year: 1982
Country: Turkey/Switzerland/France
Language: Turkish, Kurdish
Number: 686
Director: Yilmaz Güney, Serif Gören
Starring: Tarik Akan, Halil Ergün, Serif Sezer, Meral Orhonsay
Cannes: Golden Palm, FIPRESCI Prize, Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
IMDb: 7.9
RT score: N/A

In 1974, the famous kurdish actor and director Yilmaz Güney was arrested for the charge of murdering a judge. These accusations was of course false, he was basically arrested because of his political views that provoked the Turkish government. But the imprisonment didn't prevent him from keep on fighting. He actually directed three films, or in this case gave instructions to other directors, and the last one is probably his most famous and most provoking, Yol which in english means "the road".

Yol tells us the story about several Kurdish prisoners who is granted a furlough, only to find themselves lost in a place they don't recognize anymore or are not welcomed, some of them find their home occupied by Turks. For instance one of the prisoners, Mehmet Salih is become a dishonor for his wife's family after running away from his brother-in-law during the heist he was arrested for, a man that was shot and which he could have helped. And when he comes back, her family is not afraid to kill him at the spot. An other prisoner is Seyit Ali, who travels by horse to his home up in the cold mountains only to find out that his wife has been unfaithful to him by working as a prostitute. His family have kept her in chains until the day Seyit returns to kill her because of her disloyalty.






There's a lot of stories, some big, some small, but they all shows us the Turkish society from a Kurdish point of view. The problem is not only about the Turkish militant repression but also about the Kurdish family law and culture. Honor killing is quiet acceptable, but it's not only the Kurds, there's also honor killings in many culture inside many different religious branch. Yol was actually banned in Turkey until 1999 because of it's view towards the Turkish treatment of the Kurds, and the religious themes.

Yol is a great film. It's not only a honest film, (though I expected the Turkish prisons to be as brutal as in Midnight Express) it's also a great poetic and beautiful film, beautiful landscapes and cinematography, that really brings forth the Kurdish mythology. It's as mind blowing, as if we should have been in Russia. Like with the films most famous scene where Seyit carry his wife who is suppose to freeze to death but Seyit change his and tries to save her, but it's to late. Another great scene is when Ömer is playing with a dog is a meadow and having fun, he then stops and turn his eyes towards his village, when he suddenly hear shots. As beautiful photographed as a David Lean film and as political as a Costa-Gavras film, this is a must see film.


Grade: A


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"Fassbinder's Reincarnation"

HEAD-ON

Original title: Gegen die Wand/Duvara Karsi

Year: 2004

Country: Germany/Turkey

Language: German, Turkish

Number: 1029

Director: Fatih Akin

Starring: Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck, Meltem Cumbul
Berlin: Golden Bear, FIPRECSI Prize
IMDb: 8.0
RT score: 90%

Germany and Turkey, two countries, one with no identity and the other one with a strong one. Two quiet different cultures with different traditions and rules. There's four million Turks living in Germany, and one of them is Fatih Akin who made this film called Head-On which is a film about the strong Turkish identity and how it's affecting them in a country that is far from their native mother land, and how it don't prevent them from following the religious dogmas and rules about family honor from their country.

Cahit Tomruk (Birol Ünel), an alcoholic homosexual Turkish immigrant has just ended up in a hospital after a failed suicide attempt where he drove a car right into a wall. On the hospital he meets a young Turkish girl in her early twenties, Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She's also there because of a suicide attempt, in order to escape her extremely traditional parents. She then ask Cahit to marry her so that she can get her parents of her back. Cahit is against it at first, but agree's on the condition that they both can live their separate lives. But after all Cahit begins to develops real feelings for her, and she does the same, but one day Cahit hits Sibel's former lover with a bottle out of anger, and he ends up in jail, while Sibel who is now a dishonor to her family is in danger of being killed by her own brother. She then escape to Istanbul to live with her cousin Selma, but her longing for Cahit makes her want to ease the pain by using narcotics. How will it end? Is there any light in the end of the tunnel?

Head-On is a heavy lightning down to earth dark film about individuals who have given up on life and have sunken as low as possible. It sort of reminds me of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder film in that way that we follow the lowest creature in the Hierarchy, pretty much like in Fox and His Friend where a young hustler who finds himself in company with a bigger elite, and is out of touch with this community and don't fit in. It's the same in Head-On, only this time it's all about Cahit's Turkish identity that is the question when he's involved with a family of Turks, while Cahit's Turkish is kind of rusty. He is out of touch with his own Turkish Identity, basically he doesn't belong anywhere.

Sibel is like Cahit, a rebel. But she doesn't have the same background, plus she's also more pubertal, because she's grown up in a more liberal society than her parent's. She wants to brake free from her family traditions, or as she herself put it "I want to live, I want to dance, I want to fuck... and not only with one guy". But she also get to see for herself what to much harm freedom can do to a person.




What's so special about Turkish/German films is that their Motherland is always in their mind and is sort of like a place for escapism. Head-On is a strong film about this Turkish identity and how it effects people's lives. It show us how low a person can sink because they want to deny who they really are. Head-On clearly shows this in a brutal way by drug abuse and adultery. It's a strong film, well crafted by a great screenplay and some marvelous realistic acting, specially by the two leads Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli who have such a great chemistry that every actors should have.


Grade: A


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"The Little Fish Who Learned to Swim"

CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS

Year: 1937
Country: United States
Language: English, Portuguese
Number: 104
Director: Victor Fleming
Starring: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Melvyn Douglas, Lionel Barrymore
Oscar nom: Best Actor (Spencer Tracy), Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Screenplay
IMDb: 7.8
RT score: 92%

Victor Fleming's adaption of Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous is the story about the young Harvey Cheyne (Freddie Bartholomew), a spoiled rich kid who uses his power to get what he wants because of his father's (Melvyn Douglas) influence. But one day when he's traveling with one of his father's cruise ships to Europe, he accidentally falls into the water and is rescued by a Portuguese fisherman named Manuel Fidello (Spencer Tracy) who takes Harvey with him back to the fishing schooner. The crew aboard says to Harvey that they can't go back to land because they are in the middle of the fishing season and they have to stay there for six mouths. This makes Harvey very angry at first, and he finds out that he have to work for a change. He later learn to love the life as a fisherman, and has found a father figure in Manuel. But what will happen when the season is over?

Captains Courageous is a great film, with some great performances, specially Spencer Tracy's Manuel with a thick Portuguese accent. You might have taken it for stereotypical, but his affection, his loss and love for life makes him indeed very believable. A wonderful performance. And there's the other fishermen, such character actors as Lionel Barrymore and John Carradine gives us the seance of actually being out on the sea, without overdoing the characters. It's a great story about the joy of life you misses if you are soiled and self-centered. A wonderful adventure of listening to others and makes the whole state of mind better for all. 


Grade: A


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