LÜTFI Ö. AKAD
Law of the Border
Well then. So, even in the context of me saying that I haven’t had a lot of movie watching time, this feels like a lot. It’s been almost 4 months since I last managed to watch one of these. That’s, by far, the longest stretch since I started this project almost ten years ago. It’s a real challenge, but, such is life.
This one was a random choice maybe to come back, but really I chose it because my Turkish father-in-law is visiting, and it thus seemed appropriate. When I mentioned it to him, he had absolutely heard of Lütfi Akad, Yılmaz Güney, and Erol Taş. These were titans of a cinema that most of us over here know nothing about. That alone made this a very meaningful thing to watch.
The other thing that struck me was the way that, as usual, being a parent has completely changed my perception of media. My perception of everything really, but in this case I’m thinking of the way certain plots just grab me now. This story, of a father doing something unpopular because he thinks it’s the best future for his son... it hit me hard. Before I had kids I think I would have just smirked, now it’s all I can do to hold back a tear.
This is the second Turkish film in the collection, and it’s honestly nowhere near as good as Dry Summer. But there’s something vital here. This is unpretentious cinema, but also a film with something to say. There’s something here about the way that society sets poor people up for failure. The way the edges of society are manipulated to be exactly in the worst place possible. The way societies fall to function. It’s all wrapped in a fun little movie that is also just trying to entertain. It succeeded with me on both fronts.