YOL Guney, Yilmaz
PROBABLY no Turkish film has had the worldwide
impact of Yilmaz Guney's
''Yol,'' a harrowing look at what is portrayed as a
land of harsh military
rule and feudal codes.
At the 1982 Cannes International Film Festival,
''Yol'' shared the top
award, the Palme d'Or, with the Costa-Gavras classic
''Missing,'' becoming
the only Turkish film to win such a high
international honor. It had a
long run in the United States and instilled in many
viewers a sense that
Turkey was a backward and frightening place.
One friend of mine who saw it told me that it had
rid her of any desire
ever to go to Turkey. Another was so distraught that
she drove her car
into a tree on the way home from the movie, emerging
uninjured but severely
shaken.
Until now, however, most Turks have had no chance to
see ''Yol.'' Guney,
a Kurdish nationalist, was in prison when the film
was made according to
his script and instructions. When he appeared on
stage to claim his award
in Cannes, he was an escapee wanted by the Turkish
police. The clenched
fist he raised upon receiving his award was a symbol
of defiance as well
as triumph; he died two years later.
''Yol'' was banned by the military Government that
held power in Turkey
in the early 1980's. Civilians returned to power in
1983, and the ban on
''Yol'' was lifted in 1992, but for a variety of
technical and financial
reasons it is only now being shown publicly here. A
new print has been
prepared, and since February it has been drawing big
crowds at dozens of
theaters around the country. At the Istanbul Film
Festival this month,
three more of Guney's films will be shown, all with
new prints that the
Turkish Government paid to make for a festival of
Turkish cinema held in
Paris in 1996.
The long-delayed release of ''Yol'' has provoked
much comment here. Despite
the fact that Guney was a devastating critic of
Turkish society and an
ethnically assertive Kurd, remarkably little of the
comment has been negative.
Most has focused on the quality of Guney's films and
his achievement in
bringing Turkish cinema to world attention.
''He was a supporter of the Kurdish cause, which I
oppose because I believe in the unitary state,'' said Halit Refig, an active
Turkish director. ''But
I still have great respect for him as one of the
best filmmakers this country
has produced. It's great that he is back on the
screen.''
Guney wrote the script for ''Yol'' while serving a
prison term for a murder
that he had evidently committed in the heat of an
argument over a woman.
He smuggled the screenplay out, and the movie was
filmed clandestinely
in southeastern Turkey under the direction of one of
his collaborators,
Serif Goren. Mr. Goren has complained that his role
in making the film
is being forgotten in the wave of acclaim for Guney,
and he boycotted the
glittering Istanbul premiere in February.
''Yol,'' which means ''road,'' tells the story of
five inmates of a Turkish
prison who are given a 10-day furlough. As they make
their way to their
homes in the mostly Kurdish southeast, they confront
violence, military
repression, vendetta feuds, ancient attitudes toward
women and honor, and
other aspects of the Turkish-Kurdish reality. They
seem to find their homes
and home lives at least as imprisoning as their jail
cells.
Although ''Yol'' is intense and unavoidably
political, it is also full
of wry touches. One prisoner, looking over the
temporary identification
card he has been issued, complains, ''This picture
makes me look like a
murderer.'' A fellow passenger on a train asks him
why he was imprisoned.
''For killing a man,'' he replies, and everyone
around begins to laugh.
The Kurdish issue is very much on Turkey's mind
these days because the
principal Kurdish guerrilla leader, Abdullah Ocalan,
has been captured
and is awaiting a trial that could result in his
execution. In a concession
to Turkish sensibilities, the one shot cut from the
original print of ''Yol''
is of a sign seen by one prisoner on his way home.
It says ''Kurdistan,''
a word considered hostile to the Government because
it suggests that the
predominantly Kurdish region has an identity apart
from the rest of Turkey.
Guney himself took advantage of a prison furlough in
1981 to escape, and he made his home in France until his death. Many of those who are nowseeing
''Yol'' were children when it was made.
''I'm a Kurd from Turkey, and for the first time I find my own culture
in a film,'' said one of them, Rohat Yucel, a 21-year-old student.''For
the first time, Kurdish motifs are presented in a natural, genuine way.
It's the first time I feel represented in a film.''
If ''Yol'' gave many foreigners their first impression of Turkey whenit
was shown in the 1980's, it has a very different impact here. Turks who
live in Istanbul and other cities, or for that matter anywhere outside
the impoverished southeast, see it as a window into the life of thatregion.
To view it as a representation of Turkey is akin to seeing ''The Grapes
of Wrath'' or ''Fort Apache the Bronx'' as representing life in theUnitedStates.
T HE three Guney films that are to be shown at the festival here,''Hungry
Walls,'' ''Seyyit Han'' and ''Hope,'' were all made before ''Yol.''Festival
organizers expect all the shows to be sellouts.
''He began as an assistant to other directors, but he went on to create
his own world and proved himself as a true auteur,'' said Hulya Ucansu,
the festival director. ''He was a very sensitive creator. Because ofhis
literary experience as a short story writer, his mind worked in a very
poetic way. He was reflecting the poverty of his people, and hiswritten
language, his visual language and the situations he created were verypoetic,
sometimes tragically so.''
The free release of ''Yol'' may be seen as a sign of the looseningpolitical
and cultural climate in Turkey. Some of those involved in making it,however,
are not yet willing to congratulate their Government for its new-foundtolerance.
''These days you are always hearing 'All bans are lifted,' and peoplebelieve
it,'' one of the actors, Necmettin Cobanoglu, said after the Istanbulpremiere.
''But how can we say it is true when there are still unsolved murdersand
people are still in jail for expressing their thoughts? 'Yol' paints a
complete picture of Turkey, and I hope it will start some seriousdiscussion.''
Captioned as: Tarik Akan, right, and Serif Sezer in ''Yol,'' writtenby
Yilmaz Guney, who was in prison while it was made in the early 80's.(Photofest)
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.
Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
Stephen Kinzer, chief of the
Istanbul bureau of The New York Times.
New York,
New York Times Apr 11, 1999
Pagination: 26
