Well, we’re going from one heavy film to another. This week’s movie is a relatively recent (by that I mean almost ten years old) drama from Turkey, one which deals with the uncomfortable bubbling tension between both people and social classes, as well as the protective behaviors of someone who doesn’t want to risk his comfortable life while still wanting to feel like he’s accomplished true understanding of the world and people, even if it’s really just condescension. While I was a little worried at first that the film would just be a “standard foreign drama,” if you know what I mean, it actually ended up hitting me pretty well with what it was getting across, and even had me looking at myself afterwards. Here’s a rundown of the story:
The film mainly follows Aydin, a man who runs a hotel and various rental houses in the hills of Anatolia. He lives a cushy, if somewhat sheltered, existence away from all the have-nots he rents to, rarely interacting with them directly and preferring to leave that to his assistant Hidayet. He mostly spends his time writing a column for the local paper, deliberately not trying to move up to a bigger paper, as he clearly wants to remain a “master of his domain” without any real challenges. He lives with both his wife Nihal and his sister Necla, both of whom are becoming fed up with him and this dull existence they live in. Necla questions Aydin’s column (and, by extension, him), as most of his entries read as basic and condescending to her. He often writes about subjects that he doesn’t have any insight on and/or ideals that he can’t seem to commit one way or the other on, instead using them as a way to judge other people for supposedly lacking them. She basically calls him out for being to scared and stubborn to really try and accomplish anything in his life, to which Aydin tries to argue against, though most of his reasoning reads as excuses. It’s getting to the point where Necla is longing to go back to her abusive ex-husband, under the idea that she could’ve made him recognize his problems if she’d tried harder, and at least she’d actually be doing something and taking a risk. Nihal doesn’t think this is a good idea, but also says that she can leave if she wants and that no one is stopping her. Now, in Nihal’s case, she’s much younger than Aydin, and the two have not been in a happy marriage for quite some time now (and it’s arguable if they ever truly were). She’s created several fundraising programs for their community, though it’s clear that she’s mainly trying to find meaning in her life through them rather than being purely charitable. Aydin has never taken an interest in there projects, but when she organizes a meeting in their home, all of a sudden Aydin wants to join. She takes issue with this, as she knows his tactics and knows that he’s trying to get one over on her to assert his control of their marriage, all of which he denies, of course. He even goes so far as to tell her that she doesn’t have the experience and knowledge to make the program a success, though, of course, in a “wise, sagely, and helpful” way (in his own mind, at least). Nihal makes it clear that, because of how he is to her and everyone around him, he has slowly eroded away whatever love she once had for him. Aydin doesn’t want to get divorced but tells her that he won’t stop her if she decides to do so. Running through all of these character relations is an ongoing situation involving Aydin/his associates and one of the renters. You see, this family was already struggling moneywise, after an incident where the father, Ismail, stabbed a panty thief who took his wife’s underwear. Since his jailtime for this assault, no one’s been willing to hire him, so they haven’t made rent in months. It had gotten to the point where Aydin’s people sent out debt collectors to take away most of their appliances. Ismail tried to fight the collectors, which resulted in the police beating him up in front of their house. One day, Ilyas, Ismail’s son, throws a rock at Aydin’s car window, as revenge for humiliating his father. This, of course, only piles on the debt the family already has, and Ismail doesn’t take too kindly to them driving up and confronting them about it. Hamdi, Ismail’s brother, tries his best to smooth things over, walking all the way up to Aydin’s abode twice, once to try and discuss it with him, and the next to get Ilya to kiss his hand as an apology. Both times, Aydin seems to treat this with mild annoyance, finding Hamdi and Ismail pathetic and poor examples for their community. What ends up happening is that, around the time Aydin and Nihal have their heading-towards-divorce talk, Aydin declares that he’s going to Istanbul for a while, and passively-forcefully donates a lot of money to her cause. After he leaves, she drives down to Ismail and Hamdi’s home and gives them the money instead (as a way to do some good with it without letting Aydin get what he wants). Hamdi is very grateful, though also debates whether he should accept the money, since it’s an awfully generous amount. Ismail, on the other hand, isn’t as keen to take it and basically (in his own way) throws it right back in her cushy, upper-class, self-servingly-charitable face. I won’t reveal exactly what happens here, but I definitely want to discuss the general idea later. In fact, I’m going to end the recap here, as I’ve actually covered quite a lot of the story, and I always want to leave you guys with an unspoiled resolution. With that, let’s head into my thoughts.
What struck me the most about this film is the uncomfortable underlying tension that runs throughout it. You can just feel all the anger, frustration, and sadness that these characters feel, and it’s interesting how, outside of a halted altercation between Ismail and Hidayet/Aydin, it never comes out in a loud or violent way. It’s like being at a family get-together where you can tell everyone has issues with each other, or in this case with one person and his associates, but everyone kind of maintains a composed attitude because they’re “supposed to” (until the truth slowly reveals itself through arguments, though not fights). Maybe I’m just sensitive to that kind of vibe, but I really felt all those emotions build up and flow out within me during the film. I really felt like I understood where the characters were coming from, as well as how flawed they were as people. Aydin was definitely the most flawed out of all of them, being a condescending apathetic jerk who projects his lack of convictions onto others, using that as a means to put them down and make himself feel superior. What’s really frustrating is that he’s a passive jerk as opposed to an active one. He’s the kind of guy who will try to make himself sound reasonable while clearly attacking you in this underhanded way that gives him power over you (like how he criticizes Nihal for being too young and inexperienced to run her fundraiser successfully, but under the guise of trying to help give advice and “wanting her project to succeed”). It’s clear that he, on some level, wants more from life than his comfortable existence, but he’s so afraid and/or unwilling to try and take risks that might make his life more meaningful. He’d much rather stay in his safe little “castle” high in the hills, looking down on everyone else and manipulating those closest to him. What’s saddening is that he actually did have greater ambitions at one point, that of being an actor. However, it seems like his career never panned out and he lost all his desire for more, instead using his acting talent for guilt-tripping. This, coupled with a rough childhood that drilled a need for security into him, allows us to see that there’s more going on behind the jerkish exterior, though it doesn’t excuse his terrible behavior. Nihal is the far more sympathetic of the two, as you can tell that she’s suffering having to live with this man and clearly wants to find a more meaningful path in life beyond these comfortable confines. Her charitable endeavors are commendable and show a more benevolent spirit than Aydin ever has. However, there’s an interesting angle they take with this when she goes to give the money to the struggling family. As stated, while Hamdi is grateful, Ismail is not, and as he’s looking through the fat stack of money, he says something along these lines: “Ah, this much looks like enough for the son who rose up against his father’s humiliation. This much looks like enough for the brother who had to degrade himself after his own brother fucked up. Oh, there’s some left. Well, this must be for the woman who gave all this money to ease her conscience and feel like she could fix everything.” This isn’t a perfect paraphrasing, but the general idea is that Ismail basically calls out Nihal for only doing this sort of charity for selfish reasons. She’s never suffered like they have; she has no concept of what the lower classes go through. It’s basically an insult to have a bone thrown at you by a person that’s a part of the system that keeps/takes all the meat away from you. Can the money repair their pride and dignity? Now, there’s definitely an argument to be had here about whether or not it matters what a person’s intentions are behind their charity (even if they don’t have entirely selfless motives, they’re still trying to help), and it is easy to see Ismail as being stupid for not accepting it when it obviously would have helped them financially. Well, he himself does say that he is a drunken idiot (though it’s in a self-deprecating way that belies its true meaning), but I understand where he’s coming from, given what I’ve noted about “charity” so far. It goes to show that even those that do good things aren’t always entirely selfless or pure, especially if they benefit from the system that causes the problems in the first place. There’s a bit more I could go into, but I think I need to wrap things up here.
Overall, I thought this film was very good. It hit me hard on the emotional side and had a very interesting mixture of personal and class tension that made for a heavy watch, in a good way. It also makes for good winter viewing, as you can feel a sense of coldness in the space, both literally and figuratively (the weather even gradually goes from dry to rainy to snowy as the film goes on, which definitely fits this time of year). It might not be great for Christmas viewing specifically, as it’s really not uplifting in any way, so maybe don’t put it on at the Xmas party. Still, I would recommend it if you’re in the mood for something heavier this season, I think you’ll get a lot out of it if you’re ready for it. I hope you all have some very happy holidays this year, and I’ll see you all in 2024.