Robert A. Haller. Innocence. Five Films by Zeki Demirkubuz. Review.

Innocence

The title of this film may refer to the principal character Yusuf, an ex-convict; and/or Cilem, the deaf-mute child of a dysfunctional family; and/or the condition of innocence itself, which is too fragile to survive in the world of the film. As in Block-C, no one escapes unscarred from this narrative. Yet, it is also a world where hope and unselfish love endure.

Yusuf Gunes is released from a ten-year prison sentence as the film begins. He seeks shelter in a hotel because his only remaining family is driven by jealousy and drunken rage. There he encounters another stricken family: Bekir, his wife Ugur, and their daughter Cilem. Yusuf becomes a de facto guardian for the child as her parents split apart.

For Demirkubuz there is much more to this story, not the least being the solitary wanderings of Yusuf, later joined by Cilem as they pursue her absent parents. At one point Yusuf and Cilem pass a poster of Charlie Chaplin and his ward from The Kid, and Yusuf pauses to look at it, pointing our attention to it as well. This invocation of Chaplin is more than a wry homage; it defines the aspiration of the film we are watching.

Yusuf’s quest for Cilem’s parents belongs to the absurd world of desperate hope. It is absurd because it goes against the parent’s proclivities for self-destruction and perseveres despite a catastrophic earthquake that has shattered so many lives, including that of Yusuf’s own family.

Innocence also marks the first appearance of one of Demirkubuz’s signature metaphoric images. When the film begins, Yusuf asks the prison warden to keep him inside, away from the harsh world outside. The warden cannot agree, but as he explains why Yusuf must leave, the door to his office—which has been so carefully latched shut—opens on its own. Later in the film, when Cilem’s mother has been brought in for questioning by the police, the official’s door also springs open. It is as if the network of authority cannot be dependably held together.

And there is yet another open door. Ugur’s first husband escapes from his prison cell, precipitating the climactic sequences of the film.

When the film ends, Demirkubuz provides a printed epilog by Samuel Beckett that could have been used by Chaplin:

You always tried
You always lost
That’s all right
Try again
Lose again
Be a better loser.

Robert A. Haller. Five Films by Zeki Demirkubuz. 2003.