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| [h=2]Turkish filmmaker Ulaş Bahadır's debut feature “Madımak: Carina'nın Günlüğü” (Madımak: Carina's Diary) takes on the very difficult task of depicting the events of the Sivas massacre that took place in 1993, which ended with the murder of 35 leftwing intellectuals, mostly Alevis, who were scorched to.[/h] | |
| Turkish filmmaker Ulaş Bahadır's debut feature “Madımak: Carina'nın Günlüğü” (Madımak: Carina's Diary) takes on the very difficult task of depicting the events of the Sivas massacre that took place in 1993, which ended with the murder of 35 leftwing intellectuals, mostly Alevis, who were scorched to death inside the Madımak Hotel in Sivas by religious zealots. The lynching could not -- or should we say would not -- be stopped by the state authorities of the period. This atrocity is deeply ingrained in the collective memories of those of us who are old enough to remember what happened and who helplessly witnessed the massacre through live television news coverage. Beyond political implications, the Sivas massacre is proof of the disastrous potential of provocation that influences those infused with hatred. Are things much different in Turkey today is a question that still looms over us. As the first feature film ever to tackle this subject, “Madımak: Carina'nın Günlüğü” stands at a very risky position in which expectations are high and rigid. Sadly though, Bahadır's film does not fulfill expectations due to his confusing screenplay and unfocused directing, despite featuring some of the finest acting talent in the country in its cast. The filmmakers have chosen to shed light on the events through the point of view of Carina Cuanna Thedora Thuijs (Denise Ankel), a Dutch student who came to Ankara to research the status of Turkish women and later on participated in the Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Festival in Sivas with her female friends from Ankara. She was one of the people who had lost her life in the hotel. The choice of bringing in foreign eyes to explore the Alevi culture and eventually depict the massacre initially seems like a wise decision, but Carina's characterization and emotional journey throughout the film is displayed with such naïveté and befuddling didacticism that it hits no chords of sympathy in the viewer. In fact the depiction comes out more like a cultural orientation video. Throughout the first half of the story, we first follow how Carina's boyfriend and mother oppose her travel to Turkey, worrying for her security. Nevertheless she decides to take the journey and ends up lodging in an amicable elderly couple's house (veteran actors Rıza Akın and Füsun Demirel), who introduce her to the Alevi culture. She digs deeper into the teachings and social norms of the community through her studies at university and through her female friends. She is like Alice in Wonderland as she finds herself immersed in the community. These scenes are like anthropology classes for high school students and do not help move the plot forward or give any ideas to the viewer about the motivation of the character. It's like we're going round in circles all the time and are miraculously expected to empathize with Carina and the good people around her, who are mostly cardboard characters. The film's intentions are good, but its lack of cinematic expression or narration puts an impenetrable wall between the story and the audience. Too bad that most people watching this film will be sitting at the theater with historical knowledge and a yearning for a significant audiovisual representation on the big screen with an enlightening perspective of the events, the victims and the perpetrators. Midway through the film, Carina and her friends travel to Sivas and attend the festival. It is at this point that we are introduced to intellectuals and artists who were there on July 2, 1993 -- among them the well-known satirist Aziz Nesin, poet-musician Hasret Gültekin, poet Metin Altıok and folk singer-songwriter Nesimi Çimen. At that point, a group of undisclosed men, whom we can only assume to be the deep state, but rather look like stand-ins for Darth Vader, start mobilizing their evil plans, gather and provoke the regional zealots to mainly attack Nesin, who at the time was in preparations to publish a Turkish translation of Salman Rushdie's “Satanic Verses.” From here on, the sequences in which the victims, including Carina, run from the festival area to take refuge in the Madımak Hotel and also the mobilization of the provoked mob are shot so poorly that not a single drop of tension, panic, desperation or anger is stirred up in the viewer. It is only when the film uses a short excerpt from the original TV footage that we actually engage in the story and end up with a gulp in our throats. “Madımak” is the cinematic reflection of a basic textbook and despite its drive and efforts to do justice to the victims of the massacre, it cannot live up to its own ambitions, neither in context nor content. 'Mad?mak: Carina'n?n Günlü?ü' Cannot Live Up To Its Ambitions EMİNE YILDIRIM / ISTANBUL (Cihan/Today's Zaman) |
Ich sehe aber in der Mehrheit MHP Abschaum und Brüder der religiösen Kaste. Natürlich spricht das die CHP nicht frei, sie war im Großen und Ganzen auch ziemlich untätig, aber die Bilder und das Material sprechen eine klare Sprache. Ich bin auch ziemlich immun gegen politisch kalkulierte Schuldzuweisungen.