It's simple for me. Gross injustice and hypocrisy out in the world strike me as lamentable baggage of how undeveloped we are. In terms of cinema, I can muster no passion for simply dependable craft hitched on a social cause, the possibility of different ways to perceive ourselves and the myriad forms of suffering is too vast and open-ended a project.
So, I'm only being honest here, this is a solid film, that troubles and sheds light on marginalized lives, that affects in a modest way, but I can feel only a distanced solemnity. It can only be for me a sad reminder of how far back stretches the rear guard of civilization and how unlucky for some people, Dyarbakir in the film, further east these days it's Tikrit and Pakistan. Can we do something beyond a troubled viewing from the comfort of our homes? Is viewing enough?
The ending is a poignant call about this: instead of taking up the same gun in turn against a murderer, let his neighbors and people on the street know, circulate the narrative that unmasks. That's the value it has. But is the film going to be shown to the neighbors?
So, I'm only being honest here, this is a solid film, that troubles and sheds light on marginalized lives, that affects in a modest way, but I can feel only a distanced solemnity. It can only be for me a sad reminder of how far back stretches the rear guard of civilization and how unlucky for some people, Dyarbakir in the film, further east these days it's Tikrit and Pakistan. Can we do something beyond a troubled viewing from the comfort of our homes? Is viewing enough?
The ending is a poignant call about this: instead of taking up the same gun in turn against a murderer, let his neighbors and people on the street know, circulate the narrative that unmasks. That's the value it has. But is the film going to be shown to the neighbors?