Three Monkeys

Bleak! Dark! Well worth seeing! This film is co-produced with Italian, French and Turkish assistance. Turkish is spoken with English sub-titles.

You are reminded of the well known picture of the three monkeys representing; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. I think this film better represents the phrase; the monkey on my back.

All the characters do indeed have ‘a monkey on their back.’ Nobody is happy and the black and white cinematography captures the mood. There is no color throughout the whole film. The camera often lingers on a character’s face in a close up so that you literally see every hair and every pore. Even more important the emotion expressed on the face is very powerful so that you know their inner most feelings. The only relief seems to be the pastoral scene from the window of the apartment of the main characters.

Eyup lives with his wife, Hacer and son Ismail. Their apartment is very small and in a poor area. Eyup is a driver for an aspiring politician. One night the politician is driving late at night. His eyes are closing as he drives. He hits someone on the road. He can’t take a chance of being caught because of his aspirations in politics. He convinces Eyup to take the rap and promises to pay him.

Eyup’s life goes from bad to worse as a result of these events. He does indeed go to jail. His wife becomes involved with the politician. She is a fascinating person to watch. At times she is very beautiful. Other times she is stern and plain. Throughout she performs well. The son becomes aware and it takes a toll on his life. When Eyup returns from prison he also becomes aware of what has transpired. His son has a car and his wife wears a decorative negligee. He quizzes them about the source of the income.

The film takes twists and turns in the plot. Nobody escapes high drama.

When I left the theatre one woman commented,” That certainly made me very depressed.” I replied that I felt good because this was not my life.

The film did win the Director’s Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. It would not have surprised me to learn that it had won an award for the cinematography or for the fine acting. It seemed so appropriate that I left the theatre into a heavy rain storm.