Jîn (2013)

Director of My Only Sunshine and Kosmos, Reha Erdem’s recent film Jîn depicts us a teenage girl guerrilla who escapes from her Kurdish freedom fighter life. The film’s protagonist Jîn (Deniz Hasgüler), in Kurdish meaning life and woman, is almost in a fairy-tale like film, with her red scarf reminding of Little Red Riding Hood, or with her dream-like images of her in nature at night. 

The stunning landscape, which in reality was shot in Kaz Mountains and Mersin, shows us the destruction of mankind. The animals she encounters throughout her journey- a donkey, a bear and a stag had influenced by the bombs and missiles.

Jîn is an important film in the midst of Turkish-Kurdish political conflict where it doesn’t show us a heroic ‘side’ or tries to answer to this conflict. In fact, the protagonist Jîn is first of all a woman, then a guerrilla. She steals some clothes and tries to mingle in to the society where she has been sexually harassed and tried to be raped several times which leads her to go back to the mountains at the end.  

Through Florent Herry’s lens and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score Jîn is visually stunning film which revolves around woman, misery and conflict. It is a political film due to its subject, but most of all it is a Reha Erdem cinema where he again takes women in the center. 

5th Corona Fastnet Short Film (22-26 May)

I have decided to write down my experience of this festival that is taking place over this week from 22-26 May 2013. I can only attend the last couple days, but just wanted to write about it.

After the organizing process of the Turkish Programme of Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival, finally the festival weekend arrived.  We woke up early in the morning and drove to Cork and then to Schull. It is my first time to be here, and even in Cork. The sun was beaming, which is unusual for Ireland, but can’t complain…it almost feels like summer!

The village consists of one main road, houses, and shops all around. They have put banners of film names on every shop which really makes you feel like it is going to be a weekend full of cinema. We went to the pub where the film screening was going

to be, a pub that’s co-run by a Turkish man.  After I have done the opening, we started to watch the short films from Turkey. Later we had a walk by the beach.

Pauline, who has been a great support and host, has provided us with VIP Passes for us which I could get in to every talk in the village. I went to the “An Evening with Jack Gold”, where he discussed his films, and watched clips while he explained how and why he has shot them.

Later we were invited to the festival dinner where had the chance to meet people who took part in the festival. I have eaten in the same room with Lenny Abrahamson and talked and shaken hands with Jim Sheridan. Now, that’s what I will call a golden night (: There were of course many other important people from the sector. I have sung “Happy Birthday” in Turkish as it is the fifth anniversary of the festival.

Fasle Kargadan (Rhino Season, 2012)

One of the other films that I have seen at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival is Kurdish filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi’s Fasle Kargadan (Rhino Season, 2012) that is presented by Martin Scorsese.  After the filmmaker was exiled by the Iranian government, he went to different countries but eventually start living in Istanbul where the film is set.

So many factors have made me go see this film: I love Iranian Cinema, I love Ghobadi, I love Yilmaz Erdogan, then of course there is the fact of Monica Bellucci. After hearing that all these names have come up together to make a film… I have wanted to see this film for months now.

The film is about a love story that sets through three decades, starts around the Iranian revolution. It is based on Ghobadi’s poet friend who was imprisoned during Islamic Revolution. Sahel (Behrouz Vossoughi) is thrown in to the prison for 30 years by personal revenge.  His wife Mina was also served in prison where she gets out after 10 years. She was told that Sahel has died so she moves to Istanbul. Once Sahel is freed he follows her.

Sahel is caught up in between his past and present, where he watches Mina from far away like a ghost. He is an outsider and is caught up in his memories.In his interview to Daily News Ghobadi says: “I had to leave Iran four years ago but I did not want to leave; the government pushed me out. I love Iran very much, so my soul is in jail now and this is worse than being in jail”. We see traces of Ghobadi in Sahel- both of their souls are in jail. This captivating feeling has got to me every now and then since I have been living away from Turkey.  

I really liked the film but once thing did not make sense to me at all. The daughter (Beren Saat) is a prostitute and tries to save money for her family. In no Turkish culture, as a matter of fact I think the same for Iranian culture, that the brother lets her sister to do something like this. This part really made me go like 'OK what the hell?!'. Because I really think that no Muslim culture will ever let that happen.

Behrouz Vossoughi and Arash Labaf are the only Iranian speaking actors in the film. We do not see much of Bellucci speaking Farsi but I have heard from my Iranian friends that overall there was no big accent difference. Since Yilmaz Erdogan is Kurdish as well, I assume he pulled of the accent whereas the rest of the crew spoke Turkish.

Bahman Ghobadi tells us this story of love and exile in a less likely political atmosphere. I think the tattoo that was made on Sahel's back describes it all: 

"Only the one living on border

Will create a land"

L'ordre et la morale (Rebellion, 2011)

Today I had the chance to see director-actor Mathieu Kassovitz’s new film L'ordre et la morale at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. And let me tell you this, France is confronting with her past- and an insider is the cause of this.

The film is based on the event of Ouvéa cave hostage taking that occurred during 22 April 1988 to 5 May 1988. A separatist group has taken hostage of 27 people including French gendarmes and demanding independence of New Caledonia. This is where GIGN captain Philippe Legorjus, acted by Kassovitz himself, and his men intervene and to negotiate between the Kanak separatist group and French government.

Kassovitz actually helps us to see the two sides of the story. The separatist group is called ‘terrorist’ by the French soldiers and the government but in fact we see that they are just fathers, and more than anyone else, they want the killing and occupation to stop. The Kanaks who killed the soldiers are willing to surrender and give the hostiles back. In return, they only wish their freedom and independence.

The film countdowns the 10 days. The negotiations seem to be working at the beginning. The media is blocked and there is going to be elections in France, so they want to solve this problem before the elections. 

Who cares who dies or not? 

I recommend this film. It is 136 minutes long but not one second bores you and especially the assault sequence is definitely shot very well.

 As Phillippe Legorjus says "Truth hurts but lie kills.." 

Big Love (2012)

My sister watched this Polish film recently and recommended me to watch as well. The director Barbara Bialowas is depicting the 'big love' of Emilia (Aleksandra Hamkalo) and Maciek (Antoni Pawlicki).

When they meet Emilia is underage but this does not stop their relationship. They keep on smoking, drinking and living wildly where we see Maciek getting jealous of Emilia. Their love is a bit tough as well- Maciek sometimes have this anger management problem. But they are madly in love with each other. And the story continues when...

I will not give more spoilers. I think the film was decent enough to watch. It is a bit cliche where they love each other but also hurt each other. However I enjoy watching relatively small European national cinemas compare to 'big' ones, so you should watch as well(: Here is the trailer:

Rust and Bone (De rouille et d'os, 2012)

I have not seen a film this strong for some time. It is pure brutal and beautiful. This film occupied my thoughts and my mind, until I went to bed to sleep. I have missed watching films that make me feel this way, so thank you Jacques Audiard (:

The film is about two people who are alienated from the society, whether due to their physical or emotional problem that bonded them together. Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts) is a macho man who moved in with his sister and her husband’s house with his five year old boy Sam (Armand Verdure) from Belgium. He used to do kickboxing but now he works as bouncer and as a security guard. He has problems interacting with his son and women. He uses his physical strength when he cannot cope and has one night stands with women.

Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard) is a killer whale trainer who by an accident in the marine park becomes amputee. Her physical situation alienates her from the society. Ali visits her after some time where he takes her out beside the sea. He asks her if she wants to swim, she replies 'Do you realize what you're saying?' Though she realises that she can still swim and after that he keeps taking her to the sea. He helps her and she enjoys and fells free again. In fact she starts to feel alive, and enjoys music and dance where she has told him that she loves dancing and making guys watch her and enjoys turning them on.

Ali starts fighting illegally and making money out of it meanwhile he puts camera with his friend Martial (Bouli Lanners) inside shops to peek on the workers. Stéphanie joins them in his fight but watches them in the car. Though at one point when Ali was beaten badly, she steps out of the car and goes beside them which gives strength to him and wins the match. They make a weird couple where they have sex as what they call -‘OP’ or ‘operational’ though it makes sense as they company each other from their alienated world.

The actors are splendid, the visual effects and music are amazing and the cinematography (cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine) is purely beautiful in such scenes when Stéphanie interacts with a killer whale under the water tank.

Baraka (1992)

Today I had the chance to see Baraka created by Ron Fricke and Mark Magidson, directed by Fricke on big screen at Irish Film Institute. It is an incredible film, I see myself lucky to see in on theater.

There are no plot or actors just visually stunning images from 25 countries from 6 continents. “Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there."”[1] Images of nature, human, worship, harmony and destruction of human is all harbored in this film where the director says it is "a guided mediation on humanity."  The film was completed in 30 months, 14 months on location[2].

The word baraka means ‘blessing’, where in Quran it is used in plural meaning sent by God[3]. The film starts with these ‘blessings’, where we see people from different religions worship; we see the nature and human in harmony. Later on the film, we start to see the destruction and mass production. The film can be divided to three parts: “Act 1 depicts scenes of natural wonder and religious rituals that blend together. In Act 2 the movie shifts direction as a Brazilian rain forest tree is chainsawed to the ground. An enormous strip mine scars the landscape. Cities progressively increase in size and take on a mechanical breathing sound. The result is overpopulation, mass production, factory farms, poverty, prostitution, war, and ultimately genocide. Act 3 is one of redemption. Civilizations ultimately collapse under their own weight, and people are purified by returning to nature and religious ritual”[4].

The pictures are taken from: http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/baraka

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[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/ written by jhailey@hotmail.com

[2] http://www.barakasamsara.com/baraka/about

[3] http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/baraka-SIM_1216?s.num=1&s.q=baraka

[4][4] http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/baraka.htm