Turkish documentaries expose environmental mishaps

As Turkish-German director Fatih Akın’s anticipated environmental documentary, ‘Polluting Paradise,’ hits the theaters, we take a look at other recent Turkish documentaries that hope to expose potential ecological disasters in Turkey

Following a special screening at this year’s Cannes, another one at the recent Golden Boll Film Festival and a showing in front of a Turkish audience at the hip film fest Filmekimi, Turkish-German director Fatih Akın’s anticipated documentary, Polluting Paradise (Der Müll im Garten Eden), hits theaters this week.

The paradise in question is Akın’s hometown, Çamburnu, a small mountainous town along the eastern shores of the Black Sea. The beautiful environment and its nature were threatened when the former copper mine right above the village was turned into a garbage landfill for the entire province of Trabzon by the government in 2007.

Akın learned about the potential environmental disaster when he was filming scenes for his 2007 feature Auf der Anderen Seite (Edge of Heaven). In Polluting the Paradise, he documents the struggles of the residents and those working in the landfill over a period of five years, as well as the impact of the garbage on the streams, not to mention an overpowering stench in the area.

The film is less an objective documentary and more a passionate plea to stop the impending environmental catastrophe for the town and its people. And it seems that Akın’s plea seems to be working.

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What to watch: Cowboys & chefs in Turkish cinema

Soul Kitchen

The Turkish-German director Fatih Akın returns after his Cannes Best Screenplay winner, Auf der anderen Seite (The Edge of Heaven) of 2007 with a surprising black comedy on food, music and a bunch of eccentric characters. Akın brings actors from his older films, Birol Ünel (Head-On) as the infamously cranky new chef and Moritz Bleibtreu (Solino), as the brother on parole, who turns the otherwise shabby restaurant of Zinos into a hip place with DJs, rock bands, and some aphrodisiac on the menu. The film is co-written by Akın and the leading actor, Adam Bousdoukos.

Who should watch it? Those who have had a taste of wonderfully bizarre characters of Fatih Akın, and his inspiring take on music in his previous movies.

Who should avoid it? Those who are expecting hard-boiled and exhausting cinema in the line of Akın’s previous award-winners, Head-On and The Edge of Heaven.

Yahşi Batı

Arguably the most prolific entertainer in Turkey, the King of Comedy Cem Yılmaz returns with a new hit comedy. The Western spoof Yahşi Batı (Handsome West, a word play on Turkish for Wild West) takes its protagonist from the Ottoman Empire to the Wild West. The leading actor and writer Yılmaz brings most of the cast from his previous two box office hits, G.O.R.A. and A.R.O.G., and reunites with the director of G.O.R.A., Ömer Faruk Sorak, now as the producer as well. Yılmaz plays Aziz, the unlikely mixture of a cowboy and an Ottoman statesman, with full mustache, cowboy boots, and the traditional amulet, ‘muska,’ hanging around his neck in this film with the treasured cliché roles of the Westerns, the town sheriff, American Indians, and even Calamity Jane.

Who should watch it? Cem Yılmaz fans have already bought their advance tickets, and waiting to tell the jokes to anyone who’s willing to listen.

Who should avoid it? Those who are prejudiced about the filmmaker Cem Yılmaz as opposed to the stand-up comedian, and who have raised their voices on the recent A.R.O.G. as not being funny for their taste.

Originally published in Hürriyet Daily News on 1 Jan. 09