Gölgeler ve Suretler

GOLGELER VE SURETLER is one of those films that sticks in the mind, whether or not we understand much about the nuances of the Cypriot conflict.

Set in the Turkish part of the country in 1963, the basic scenario concentrates on a group of Turkish villagers who are forcibly evicted from their homes and reduced to refugees by the Greek Cypriot army. The two communities once used to co-exist with one another, despite their national and religious differences; now long- held friendships are destroyed, and no one can now trust one another.

Within this scenario the story concentrates on the Karagoz puppeteer Salih (Settar Tanriogen), who is forced to leave his puppets behind in his flight for safety. His daughter Ruhsar (Hazar Ercuclu) tries to persuade headman Veli (Osman Alkas) to fetch them for her, but Veli remains reluctant to do so, having been involved in a long- standing feud with Salih. Eventually the two men make up, and the puppets are retrieved. This is an important moment, showing the importance of recognizing the past: despite repeated attempts to bury the Karagoz puppets in the ground, they keep resurfacing.

The film moves towards a violent conclusion, with Ruhsar losing her father and forced to leave her village and seek safety in the city of Famagusta. When she arrives as a refugee, she witnesses another Karagoz show organized by her father - proving once and for all that the ancient art always survives as a means of educating and purifying the soul, despite all attempts to suppress it.

GOLGELER VE SURETLER is the third in a trilogy (others include CENNETI BEKLERKEN and NOKTA) where director Dervis Zaim uses ancient arts to emphasize the continuities between past, present and future, as well as encouraging us to reflect on our relationship to the world we inhabit. It is a brave film that does not shy away from political concerns, but suggests some form of redemption, even if only temporary.

Shadows and Faces is the first and only film I watched depicting the ethnic conflict between Cypriot Greeks and Cypriot Turks in 1963. I must say it was a little different from what we had been told and taught. I liked the film for lots of reasons but one of the most important reasons was how they handled this delicate issue with a relatively objective manner and without much nationalist propaganda. The title is perfect for the film implying some people seeing ever-growing dark shadows of other people instead of seeing them as they really are. The shadow puppets and puppeteers are also perfect metaphors artistically used in the film. The very shadow play called "Karagoz / Karagiozis" is a great choice as well since it exists both in Turkish and Greek culture. As for acting, I especially liked Hazar Erguclu's Ruhsar character and Popi Avraam's Anna character. You could relate to many people in the film and character development during changing situations was worth watching. I recommend this film to everyone interested in the changeable human nature.

I'm from Cyprus. This film suprises for me because really good and true story.

The blurb tells the depicted period ends in 1963 and I was a little disappointed because "Operation Atilla" 1974 which led to the tragic split of Cyprus is more interesting. If this film is a meal, I am just half full.

History and politics may be the mainstay, the more interesting is the responses of the villagers. They are reflections of human vulnerability under fear or threat. Both Greek and Turk Cypriots are actually living in perfect harmony: they eat, they date, they mate on the same island without any conflicts. After a politically unstable inkling emerges, the old (Anna, Veli) are imperturbable while the young impulsive, impatient.

Veli may appear to be naïve, indecisive, weak in fighting against the ruthless Greeks. Nevertheless, he has faith in people, just like Anna, she believes her neighbours, her friends' goodness. They are both for peace and that's the true nature of the Cypriots.

On the contrary, the inexperienced young hearts are easily incited. Ahmet voluntarily spies on the neighbours even though his mom keeps reminding him to be calm. His wish of displaying gallantry directly causes the death of an innocent Turk shepherd. The bullet from his uncle's pistol crosses the Rubicon, making the fissure even more irreparable.

If I were Ruhsar, I of course would also feel impatient in that uncertain situation. Her wish is pure and direct: getting back the lost father. And, with the divine blessings, the daughter-father reunion at the end is sweet. Yet, when looking back in the later day, she may/might find it unnecessary to sacrifice so many innocent lives for that.

Sinister lull with boiling agitation in the surroundings is a perfect culprit for the wake-up/birth of impatience which leads to a irremediably wrong step. Always, always, patience and sound judgment are products of time and heart.

I caught Golgeler ve Suretler (Shadows And Faces)at the Istanbul film festival a few days ago. I have enjoyed several films by the director Dervis Zaim. In short: On the human level Golgeler ve Suretler is a passable drama, but ultimately flawed by by falling back into Turkish nationalist myths about events on Cyprus.

The film is set in 1963, which is one of several point of violence in the history of Cyprus. As background, at this time Cyprus was just independent and there were complex negotiations to establish a government given the 80% Greek and 17% Turkish populations and Greece's and Turkey's own interests.

The film, as a human drama focuses on the inter-communal tensions, but as a result audiences miss the fact that the real tensions on Cyprus derived directly and almost entirely from factors outside of Cyprus, specifically in Athens and Ankara. Audiences will not appreciate a key and very important aspect of Cyprus, which is precisely that the ethnic Greek and Turks there in fact lived extremely well together in highly peaceful and tolerant atmosphere.

We know now that the first mosques blown up in 62-63 were blown up by Turkish security personnel from the mainland under orders from our Army then ruling Turkey in all but name.* Several Turkish Cypriot leaders (those advocating a untied Republic) were assassinated by the same Turkish forces. These atrocities were falsely blamed on the Greeks, setting off violent reprisals against Greek civilians, destruction of Churches, which in turn then set off bigger reprisals by Greeks.

As most who know the history of Cyprus know, ultimately, in the mid-1970's, the Greek government in Athens, then a US-backed military dictatorship attempted a full takeover of Cyprus, resisted actually by the Greek Cypriots, but nonetheless triggered a full scale invasion by Ankara's generals, which catastrophised the entire country, including the Turkish Cypriots Ankara was claiming to "protect." There is another problem, at the level of dramatic portrayal. The characters are more than unbalanced. EG Greek Cypriot characters in the film are run the range of good to totally evil, and Turkish Cypriot characters run from the good to the good.

I think the acting by Hazar Erguclu (Rushar) is particularly good. And that character of the young daughter is quite well fleshed out. Many of the other characters though are caricatures, quite frankly as thin as the two dimensional shadow puppets one of the lead characters works with. For example Uncle Veli, who is a Turkish Cypriot town leader, who has a good relationship with the Greek Cypriots, is portrayed as hopelessly naive. The character of young hot headed Turk-hating Greek "Thanassi" is an absurdly shallow lumping of every stereotype in Turkey against Greeks.

In Turkey we are just barely climbing out of the pervasive ultra-nationalist and xenophobic haze of the past 90 years. In this nationalist narrative all our neighbors and our own minorities past and present are all enemies and traitors. One would have thought we had reached a point in Turkey were a more truthful and balanced film could be made. Dervis Ziam film at times moves one baby step in that direction, but overall falls back to repeating myths.

Lastly, I am very interested in this period as while I am from mainland Turkey, my wife is Turkish Cypriot and the stories she tells are utterly different than the narrative I was educated in. She tells of cooperation, friendship, integration and respect between Turks and Greeks on Cyprus. She tells of her people then and now wanting a a single Cyprus not under Greece or Turkey. That is the real voice of these beleaguered people.

I look forward when our directors can be a bit more courageous about our history.

* On our military's bombing of our mosques in order to blame the Greek Cypriots and set the Cyprus conflict in motion, google "Yirmibeşoğlu" (the Turkish three star general General who participated in ordering the secret bombings) as well as "Bayraktar" and "Ömeriye" mosques. The revelations came early in 2011. There are already some scholarly articles confirming it as well as confirmation in our more sober press. The event was essentially a repeat of when our Turkish government secretly bombed Ataturk's birthplace and blamed Greeks triggering wide-scale violent riots against the remaining Greek in Turkey in the 1950's (see wikipedia "Istanbul Pogrom")