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.

Turkish cinema produces fine films and this is one of them.It shows a patriarchal family structure in which all members are alienated and no real communication exists.They exchange messages but the lines of the father cannot be crossed no matter how this makes the other members unhappy.Father is violent corrupt disrespectful and racist as we see from different manifestations of the film.Mother seems to understand her predicament but she is reluctant to take any action and accepts her fate.Son has an opportunity that is given to him via his relationship with the Kurdish girl to see his life from a different perspective but he don't have the education the support from friends and family and he is a coward.So in the end the abused son becomes the abuser towards the workers because he don't know nothing else to do, he reproduces his father.Th e irony on the socio-political level comes from the emancipatory call that comes from the Kurdish girl (the book that later is thrown away)to the modest but well off Turkish family.In other words a region which is backward economically socially compared to the rest of turkey.Maybe this is a hint that the Turkish government play a role for that situation.Excellent performances from all the actors.

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.

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!

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.