Yeralti: A Journey Into An Abyss Called Mind – Saurabh Kumar Shahi
For the uninitiated, Zeki Demirkubuz will ring no bell. In fact, outside the Turkish Film Industry, not many people have had the honour to watch any of the pieces of art this brilliant director has conceived. His films, almost without exceptions, have been a journey towards the darkest of the corners of human mind. And only a few of them have been either dubbed or subtitled in other languages. This has robbed this brilliant director from achieving recognition outside Turkey that he well deserves.
His latest film, Inside (Yeralti), is going to change that. The film, which almost swept the Istanbul Film Awards, is a gripping and disturbing story of Muharrem(Engin Gunaydin), a loner, depressing bureaucrat, based in Ankara who seems to hate anything and everything. That hatred, more often than none, is often returned back too. And the audience gets a feeling what is in the offing when in the very start of the film, in a narrative voiceover, Muharrem tells the audience that “Suddenly, I had started a war between myself and everything.”
It also does not help that the protagonist, one of the most impressive anti-hero to come in a long long time, lives in Ankara, which is variously depicted as a boring, unlivable city, though modern and equipped with all the facilities. Initially, he fights with his OSD syndrome and insatiable lust and gives up on both of them only to start the fight again.
The only person who appears to have a more than functional relationship with him is his maid and caretaker who is tormented the atrocities and misbehavior of her landlord who lives a floor below Muharrem. In fact, the only part of the day he looks forward to, is that essential morning complaint session with her. With anyone else, this could be called a definite friendship, but with Muharrem, it is difficult to name. Muharrem, on his part tries to help her out in every way including a hilariously planned attempted murder that no surprise goes wrong.
Meanwhile, the protagonist also lacks social skills, not because he does not have any, but because they are overshadowed by other aspects of his characters such as picking up offence where there is none to pick. Naturally, there are very few friends left, if at all they can be called one, and his relationship with his colleagues in the office is, as he admits, barely functional.
But that does not stop him from forcibly inviting himself to celebrate the recognition of his friend-turned-foe Cevat who has just won a prestigious award for his novel “Ankara Sıkıntısı”. While the world as well as the literary figures perceives Cevat as a successful writer, Muharrem considers his friend a literary fraud as he stole ideas and one-liners from his friends to publish his awarded work. Enraged, Muharrem attends the dinner planning to humiliate Cevat, but not only has he failed to do so, he himself is humiliated and left to fume. This starts his journey towards the abyss. In the murky sleazy fleshpot, he meets a prostitute that appears to understand his state of mind, only to be left scared and humiliated by him.
The film toes minimalism in its treatment and depends largely on the acting skills of the protagonist and taut photography. As Muharrem, actor Engin Gunaydin simply bowls you over and it becomes surreal to imagine that this actor is a superstar of TV comedy in Turkey.
In spite of atrocious subtitles, Zeki Demirkubuz’s latest outing is a sure-shot winner and will go a long way in giving the director a footing in world cinema that he so rightly deserves.
