FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE Bal

I grew up with Turkish friends and have a Turkish girlfriend and tried to learn Turkish in Istanbul (and forgot everything again). In short, I am a typical West Berliner, because after all we are one of the biggest Turkish cities. This is especially noticeable here in Reichenberger Str. and in our video store. So if you want to get a bit more involved with Turkish films - after all, we live in a Turkish city - my friend Nazli has brought a whole bag of DVDs for you. Everything with English subtitles. Remember Bal, the Berlinale winner ten years ago? Bal is part of the childhood trilogy by Semih Kaplanoglu. This trilogy is told backwards. It begins with a bookseller, around forty, who hears about his mother's death in Istanbul. Her last request that he return home, complete one last task. Yusuf, that's his name. That's how "Yumurta" begins, which translates as egg. It is followed by Sut, translating milk, and finally Bal, meaning honey. In Bal, the third part, Yusuf is a child. Yusuf grows up on the coast to the Black Sea, a wooded landscape in the north. His father Yakup (Erdal Besikçioglu) lives from hand to mouth. He climbs trees and harvests the wild honey. One day Yakup simply disappears. For his wife Zehra (Tülin Özen) and little Yusuf (Bora Altas) this means endless torture. Through their perspective we experience this tragedy. We are Yusuf. Yusuf is a lonely child. He stutters. So much he longs for a reward badge! The strict teacher gives it out in class when children read aloud well. But there's something else in Yusuf's life. The abundance of nature, the happiness of experiencing it outdoors. That is what wild honey stands for. We're in the middle of the forest, on a hillside. There, the moon is reflected on the surface of a forest lake... If you look at all three parts of the childhood trilogy, you will be confronted again and again with eggs, milk and honey. They appear again and again in the respective parts. Nazli explained to me that Kaplanoglu uses images from the Koran. We know this from filmmakers like Krzysztof-Kieslowski, who likes to take his metaphors from the Bible. But I've never seen a film that tries to do that with the Koran. Yusuf is Joseph. He experiences things that also happened to Yusuf from the Koran. We can understand Bal as an allegory. Because Yusuf's world is the shady forest. The paradise of his childhood. Then, step by step, Yusuf goes out into the world. It's hard for him, he stutters, has trouble speaking. Yusuf leaves HIS world while walking into the world. His devotion to nature. The paradise of his childhood. But we have already seen in "Yumurta" At forty, Yusuf will return to the shady Northern Woods