Çogunluk

Çogunluk ( Majority ) is one of the movies that bring out the depressing cultural phenomenon which resides mostly the developing countries' cultures, as well as the majorities of the metropolitan western cities.

Though the movie tells about a boy,( a grown up one ) with a dominant father and an unhappy mother, it surely can be considered as a whole nightmare no one would like to participate in. The transition from the eastern cultures to a western one with no effort and morals is told perfectly.

Seren Yüce is a successful director with a smooth story telling and using acts and spaces to get into your mind. Settar Tanriogen and Nihal G. Koldas fits as the father & the mother so that you cannot even think they act. On the other hand Bartu Küçükçaglayan as the boy needs some more experience to bring out the anger of a late teenager, but still does fine.

The sets, cars, houses, the talks, the ideas are what the majority really live in. You cannot turn your back to the reality, and "Çogunluk" tells you how the majority suffers from the transition.

I am so sorry because of seeing that film. It was totally unrealistic and it was a terrible representation of Turkish family composition and Turkish society. It is true that Kurdish people in Turkish society can be discriminated in some ways. However, there is another side of the coin, there are many places in Turkey in which Kurds and Turks live peacefully, they are friends, they are neighbors... In addition to the message of the film about discrimination to Kurdish people, it was an unrealistic representation of Turkish family. This kind of family cannot be and shouldn't be generalized to all Turkish families, even it is not a good representation of mid-upper class families. There is a great change in Turkish family composition from past to today. So this film doesn't account the change in the society. From my perspective, this film is just a snap shot of a minority in Turkey in terms of family and style of living. There is a much bigger picture when you look from backstage to Turkish life. And the filmmaker either fails to capture that bigger picture or prefers to look at from a micro perspective on purpose. Result is a really bad representation of Turkey unfortunately. I do support that there must be films about discrimination in Turkey. However, being realistic is the most essential part of making a film with social messages. Instead of having films that perpetuate hate within a society, I really wish to see films that give peace messages at the end even though it gives a real picture of discrimination.

This Turkish film is the honest portrayal of a lost generation which has to depend almost entirely on the parents. A lot of nice things have been written about this film's lead character but the truth is that he is a complete misfit. Hanging out with friends at Malls seems to be his only hobby. By making use of these two personality traits, Seren Yuce shows the differences between rich and poor in modern Turkey. However, one major trouble with this film is that its lead actor utterly fails to convey notions of hardships. Although his girl friend is from a minority community. It doesn't shock viewers to discover that she wouldn't be accepted by his parents. In the past director Seren Yuce worked with established Turkish directors such as Faith Akin and Yesim Ustaoglu. Majority is the first film by this director which has won some key awards at different important film festivals for itself as well as its protagonists.

Excellent story, perfectly scripted and beautifully shot! An exciting directorial debut from young Seren Yuce whom the Turkish cinephile would mostly recall with his assistance director duties in various acclaimed movies such as "Takva" of Oner Kiziltan and "Auf der Anderen Seite (Yasamin Kiyisinda)" of Faith Akin. Settar Tanriogen excels once again, Bartu Kucukcaglayan brings his natural acting abilities from the stage to white screen and Esme Madra comes out of nowhere, at least for me, to shock us with her amazingly convincing acting. This movie won 3 Golden Oranges for Best Movie, Best Directing and Best Actor and it deserved each and every one of them if not more. Prior to Antalya, Seren Yuce also won "Lion of the Future" award in Venice. It is not going to surprise me if more and more awards keep coming in different cinema festivals throughout the world. It is one of the better movies made in Turkey in the recent years and not to be missed at any cost!

Seren Yüce is a young Turkish director who deserves credit for dealing with the situation of the most ordinary and unglamorous of characters. Mertkan (Bartu Küçükçağlayan) is a paunchy, unambitious, bored 21-year-old who lives with his mother Nazan (Nihal G. Koldas) and father Kemal (Settar Tanriogen). His father is the macho, aggressive owner of a construction company, for whom Mertkan is little more than an errand boy. His older brother is married and lives on his own and is therefore, in Mertkan's eyes, free. Mertkan is in thrall to his dad. His mother is disappointed in him and her husband, whom she calls "insensitive." We see in an opening sequence that Mertkan as a young boy was unthinkingly abusive to their housemaid, and even then he was psychologically bullied by his tyrannical father. The family's life isn't luxurious, but they don't suffer either, and when there's a problem, dad's money and influence can normally fix it. Mertkan drives a late-model SUV. He hangs out with pals, all with gelled hair, whose idea of a good time is to drink tea in the mall, scarf hamburgers, or drive around quaffing beer.

Unfortunately the film seems as unmotivated and listless as its protagonist, and while it has realistic and occasionally humorous moments, it utterly lacks flair or the ability to make its scenes pop.

Into Mertkan's demeaning, dull and senseless existence as an homme moyen sensuel, spineless version, comes Gül (Esme Madra), a young, slim, darkly pretty Kurdish woman (though the word "Kurdish" is never spoken) who works in the fast-food joint where Mertkan bolts hamburgers to assuage his humiliations from his father. She begins to show interest in Mertkan and since he has nothing better to do, he goes along. If he's not a virgin at least he may not have had sex for free before, with kissing. This seems as much as is going to happen to stir things up, and writer-director Yüce's main point seems to be highlighting the ways in which bourgeois prejudices plug into the Turkish-Kurdish split. The prejudices are shared by Merkan's mall rat pal Ersan (Ilhan Hacifazlioglu), who refers to Gül as a "gypsy," which is either slang for "slut" or a Turkish code word for "Kurd." In fact these subtleties are hard to judge by an outsider, and a Turkish viewer of the film has questioned the casting of Gül saying the actress speaks Turkish with too perfect an Istanbul accent to have come not so long ago from Van, as designated in the story. Given the fact that she's studying sociology at a good university, the viewer also questioned Gül's telling Mertkan her greatest dream (he can think of none himself) is to find a handsome man and marry him.

This seems not so surprising: Gül is away from her family, and short on money. The fast-food job is necessary to pay for school and her digs are humble and shared. Gül escaped from a suffocating, traditional home life and she needs some security. She's not unaware that Mertkan has money in his pocket. Marriage could indeed be high on her list of priorities, even though it means risking entrapment in a situation that will not allow her to use her education to full advantage.

After Martkan brings Gül home for dinner (which at least he has the courage to do), Kemal very quickly tells him to dump her. People from Van are communists, he says, and this woman represents the people who want to break up the country. Gül encourages Mertkan to become an architect, but Kemel wants him to serve in the army and to hell with education. This is Mertkan's chance to show some cojones. But will he? Unfortunately Yüce has no excitement up his sleeve, though from scene to scene he keeps it realistic, and sometimes slightly funny.

Yüce has been assistant director on films like Akin's Edge of Heaven, but Akin's brilliance and ambition have not worn off on him. However, the casting is good. Despite his schlubby appearance and lack of energy, as Mertkan Bartu Küçükçağlayan manages to be somebody you can identify with, and the other three principals are quite real. Yüce just needed to write a script that made something more telling happen. Majority doesn't make sufficient dramatic use of its issues and conflicts. But the director still deserves credit for looking closely at ordinariness, the life of the "majority."

Yüce's first feature, Majority/Çoğunluk won a number of awards in Turkey and the Lion of the Future prize at Venice. It was also shown at Thessaloniki and Rotterdam. Seen and reviewed as part of New Directors/New Films, the series jointly presented by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York from March 22 through April 3, 2011.