Made in Turkey by Golden Orange winner

A fallen middle class, the growth of new identities in big cities and the breakdown of masculinity with a new world order are all on display in director İnan Temelkuran’s latest film, “Bornova Bornova.”

The film, this year’s winner of the Golden Orange for best film, has much to say about the changes in Turkish society in the post-1980 period. “Bornova Bornova” accomplishes all of these by setting its camera in front of an old grocery store and focusing on events that transpire in the shop’s immediate vicinity.

The film is set in Bornova, a district in the Aegean province of İzmir, a refreshing change for Turkish cinema as most recent films are set either in Istanbul or in southeastern Turkey (and one in Africa for that matter).

Men and machismo set the tone of the movie as the leading character Hakan (Golden Orange Best Actor award winner Öner Erkan) kills time on the streets, reminiscing about his short-lived glory days as a football player and hoping to land the best job available, a taxi driver. He hangs out with the bad boy, the local scoundrel, Salih (Kadir Çermik), and has eyes for the belle of the street, Özlem (Golden Orange Best Supporting Actress, Damla Sönmez), a street-smart high school student.

A world defined by despair

Salih is a lost cause for everyone around him. His mother is a respected teacher, and his father is a disgraced civil servant and one-time revered leftist who, as the local legend goes, lost his job following the 1980 coup. Salih deals drugs to teenagers around the area, Özlem being one of his clients.

Hakan, still holding on to an optimism that no longer seems to be shared by those around him, is ready to give Salih the benefit of the doubt, defending him with well-chosen words even Salih does not believe.

As we meet other residents, we see that Hakan’s optimism is an anomaly. A sense of insecurity follows everyone around as holding on to jobs is hard even for the educated. This is best exemplified by Murat (Erkan Bektaş), a washed-out activist with a doctorate in philosophy who finds the best way to make a living is by writing erotic fantasy stories instead of articles for respected magazines and newspapers.

The men around the street pass the time thinking about a gloomy tomorrow, chatting their lives away with meaningless banter and displaying an outdated machismo. The optimism that was bound to fail eventually does disappear as violence takes its place in a world defined by despair.

A Turkey of inequalities

Temelkuran begins the movie with two quotes, one by former president Kenan Evren, who seized power in the 1980 coup, and another by Demet Akalın, Turkey’s answer to Paris Hilton, the it-girl who epitomizes the quick-money, quick-fame reality of a changing Turkey.

Putting Evren into any context means criticizing what became of Turkey after the coup, with the silencing of different points of view, censorship and Westernization that celebrated quick money. These neo-liberal policies, too, opened the way for the growing impoverishment of the middle class and vast differences among classes.

The film impresses with its accurate portrayal of this fallen middle class, along with a new generation that is powerless to stop the growth in corruption and inequalities. The de-politicization of the younger generation since 1980 has now turned into a cliché when blaming the inequalities Turkey faces.

However, much water has passed under the bridge since Evren’s coup that radically altered Turkey. In the end, global changes have had a far greater impact than national political incidents. Other than the opening quotation, Temelkuran’s film does not focus on drawing linkages between Evren’s policies and the despair in Bornova – it stands strong enough on its own.

Temelkuran had promised a future for genuine cinema, with larger-than-life characters in his debut film “Made in Europe” last year. He seems to be keeping his promise in his second movie, which was filmed under difficult conditions, including a lack of sponsorship. A passion for film, however, kept the film going.

Here’s hoping for yet another touching film.