Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 29 2008

As I stand applauding

by Fehmi Koru

Did Nuri Bilge Ceylan say `I dedicate this to my beautiful and lovely
country’ as I thought I heard him clearly say, or `I dedicate this to
my beautiful and lonely country,’ as is widely being reported in the
Turkish media, during his best director award acceptance speech at the
Cannes Film Festival.

His success as a Turkish filmmaker is really unique. Almost all his
early works were neglected by Turkish moviegoers. In a country where
the movie industry is moving upward, Ceylan’s `Distant’ has attracted
only 20,000 spectators in Turkey. He doesn’t give into pressure from
film critics to the effect that he should speed up the pace of his
story-telling in the movies he shoots.

His new movie for which he won the Best Director Award in Cannes,
`Three Monkeys,’ hasn’t yet seen daylight in Turkey. As I gathered
from reviews, the story of the film is familiar to my ears. A
politician runs down a youngster and sends his driver to prison in his
place. While the driver serves his sentence in jail, the politician
sexually abuses the driver’s wife. The movie is based on the stories
of different people with family secrets. One of the critics even
called `Three Monkeys’ a thriller.

A thriller by Nuri Bilge Ceylan?

All his movies tell the stories of perplexed people in modern-day
Turkey and depict the human condition. The people in his movies are in
between something, never reaching their goals easily. He cannot really
tell their stories with a quicker pace; I wonder how he shot a movie
described as a thriller.

Ceylan’s rise to international acclaim didn’t start with `Three
Monkeys’ at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. His first film, `Koza’
(Cocoon), was screened at Cannes in 1995 and his last two movies,
`Distant’ and `Climates,’ both won awards at film festivals including
Cannes. The Best Director Award for `Three Monkeys’ at Cannes is a new
page in his consistent search for perfect.

Turkey isn’t famous for its success stories related to fields that
showcase individual efforts. Art in all its forms isn’t encouraged as
is the case in different countries in Turkey’s league. We don’t care
much about preserving our national treasures let alone supporting
people who endeavor endlessly to achieve international fame. When we
see a universal success story, we become suspicious of
behind-the-scenes hanky-panky. If another country praises one of us,
or gives awards to a Turk, he or she is subject to the strictest
scrutiny.

Look what we did to Orhan Pamuk, the one and only Nobel Prize winner
from Turkey. Pamuk is regarded by most in the Turkish media as being
hand-in-hand with Turkey-bashers, giving in to their line —
criticizing our beloved country for deeds we never did. All these
accusations stem from what Pamuk said once when we were discussing the
heated `Armenian question.’ He asked for empathy from the Turkish
public toward people who believe that they lost their loved ones
during a real human tragedy less than a century ago.

That simple line of inquiry made Pamuk suspicious in the eyes of many
here in Turkey who believed that he didn’t win the Nobel Prize in
literature for his excellent novels devoured by readers the world
over, but because he sold his soul to Turkey’s foes.

Since I haven’t seen his latest film, `Three Monkeys,’ I am a bit
curious if Nuri Bilge Ceylan is going to receive the same kind of
treatment by the crowd who never believes in the merit of their own
countrymen.

It’s no coincidence that Turkish movies are being recognized at
international festivals. Cannes has been following Ceylan since he
made his debut there 13 years ago, but yet other Turkish moviemakers
and directors have walked down the red carpet, too. Fatih Akın,
the German-born Turkish movie director who makes his movies for
international audiences, won the Best Screenplay Award for
`YaÅ?amın Kıyısında’ (The Edge of
Heaven) last year at Cannes. Zeki Demirkubuz and Semih
KaptanoÄ?lu are also known as established moviemakers, and their
films watched by audiences everywhere.

In Turkey these directors have a devout circle of followers — ones
who never miss a movie directed by Ceylan, for instance — but their
box office numbers never reach the level of their populist rivals in
the country. `Recep Ä°vedik,’ a new blockbuster that earned more
than $3 million for its producers, is a dark comedy portraying the
most obnoxious man imaginable. You don’t need to be an experienced
director to shoot the movie `Recep Ä°vedik,’ and incidentally,
its 23-year-old director happens to be the younger brother of the star
who plays the Recep Ä°vedik character in their joint
production. Whereas Ceylan’s `Distant’ was seen by a mere 20,000
movie-goers in Turkey, millions of people rush to the theaters to
watch `Recep Ä°vedik.’

I don’t think I heard him wrong, Nuri Bilge Ceylan must have said `My
beautiful and lovely country’ rather than `My beautiful and lonely
country.’ The country Turkey is both beautiful and lovely, no doubt
about it, and loneliness is the fate of the directors and artists who
carry out their art in the strictest isolation without expecting to
receive applause from large audiences in their own country.