Filmed in 2001 but little seen in Turkish theaters, BANA ŞANS DİLE (WİSH ME LUCK) is a straightforward tale of a learner Bahadır (Rıza Kocaoğlu) who holds a class up at gunpoint. Having spent most of his schooldays being tormented by his so-called classmates, he believes that it is time to strike back. With the local media and police force gathered outside the window of the school, ready to shoot him down at any moment, Bahadır forces his classmates to admit their guilty secrets in public and thereby shows the extent to which their young lives have been ruined by their elders, himself included.
The story is a familiar one, and is used by director Çağan Irmak to make some points about the way the innocence of childhood has been destroyed by adults. Some of the acting is over-the-top, to be sure, but this tends to serve the film's main theme. In the end the class teacher Tuba (Melisa Sözen), who has begun the film as a hostage, comes to understand Bahadır's point and defends him against a prying media as well as the police force. The youngster might have broken the law, but his behavior is less reprehensible than those who have committed secret indiscretions on him as well as his classmates.
The film makes some trenchant points about the media's capacity to sensationalize stories, and thereby overlook the true motivation behind an individual's actions. The youthful cast turn in some creditable performances, notably İsmail Hacıoğlu as Çağlar and Başak Daşman (Ayşegül).
