SIFF 2008: Bliss
(Turkish title: Mutluluk)
Turkey 2007
Review by Asli Omur
Posted June
11, 2008
Ignorance is
not always blissful. Desolation, sadness and psychedelic dream
sequences riddle this film. The cinematography is comparable to
a previous SIFF entry, Takva: a Mans Fear of God.
Bliss is originally a book written by Turkish composer and
writer,
Zülfü Livaneli. Bliss
made the New York Times bestseller list before its entry in the
Seattle International Film Festival. It was a popular read in
Turkey
as well.
Bliss centers around a young Turkish girl
in eastern
Turkey
who has been raped and has been blamed for it by some in her
tiny village. The village agha or spiritual civil leader
tells the father he must perform an archaic tradition of honor
killing in order to cleanse the family name of her
transgression. An act the father is hesitant of but later
complies with.
Özgü Namal
plays the disheveled and yet resilient Meryem. Meryem is adamant
of her innocence, but never divulges the name of her attacker
until one fateful day. Her grandmother, whom she affectionately
calls, Bibi, believes she was raped and tries to coax the name
out of her to alert the authorities. She refuses, instead in her
madwoman like trance she questions why she can no longer hear
the roosters crowing in her garden. Meryem’s mother passed away
at her birth and she is left to her stepmothers’ violent and
chiding behavior. Her devious stepmother believes she engaged in
pre-marriage coital relations and keeps her in the shed, even
providing her with rope to commit suicide. Meryem almost goes
through with it until she sees her stepmother waiting for her to
die. Her resistance to commit suicide is just the beginning of
her desire to cleanse violent retribution from her traditional
upbringing. After her refusal to commit suicide the village
elders decide to send her elsewhere before the police get
involved with the case.
She thinks
she is going to
Istanbul
to be married off to an interested groom with the help of her
distant cousin Cemal, until she is asked to throw herself from a
bridge or be shot. These customs are incomprehensible to the
Istanbullites they encounter along the journey. Unexpected
romance, mid-life crisis, disgrace, revenge and an escape from
cruel traditions bring this film and young Meryem closure.
Bliss
is timely and provocative. It is a
stellar and triumphant film because it does not vilify all of
Turkish people, play the blame game or even point fingers.
Instead Bliss is compassionate and revives the image and
circumstances of the women of eastern
Turkey that are rarely seen in global cinema.
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