Talat Bulut, Ozgu Namal, and Marat Han star in the acclaimed Turkish film &ldquo'Bliss.” (First Run Features)
As the film opens, a shepherd finds young Meryem badly beaten and violated, lying unconscious near a lake outside her remote village. He carries her home not to a sympathetic family, but a cruel step-mother and weak father who automatically blame her for her condition. The village Agha (Chief), decrees that Meryem must die for the dishonor she allegedly brought upon the family. The Agha charges his son Cemal, recently discharged from the army, with the horrific task of the “honor” killing.
Though a dutiful son, Cemal has no taste for cold-blooded murder. Cemal is conflicted, uncertain whether he is truly doing the right thing, and chooses to spare Meryem. As they take flight from their wrathful family, Meryem and Cemal must turn their backs on their former village lives. They find refuge as crew members on the yacht of Irfan, a sociology professor who dropped out of academic life hoping to find peace of mind through life on the water.
Clearly, Irfan represents the modern secular impulse of Turkey. He is an educated man, who can talk to a former student wearing a bikini without thinking anything of it. Cemal by contrast, nearly goes into shock. A bit free-spirited but no idiot, Irfan starts to suspect the rough outline of his young crew’s troubles and does his best to help them find their way.
The three main characters of “Bliss” are sharply drawn and well nuanced, raising it above the level of a mere issue film. Ozgu Namal gives an understated, but moving performance as Meryem, a woman abused all her life, only now starting to assert herself after suffering an unspeakable trauma. Murat Han brings seething intensity to the role of Cemal, conveying the bitterness and resentment of a man forced to confront the injustice of customs he had always uncritically accepted. As the silver-maned professor, Talat Bulut comes across as realistically flawed but deeply humane, rather than a caricature of modernist nobility.
Oguz and Bosnian cinematographer Mirsad Herovic use their isolated locations to create some striking visuals, showcasing the natural beauty of Turkey. Well paced, the tension is quite acute at times, growing organically out of the story.
Turkish audiences could easily identify the religious context of the Agha and his malevolent conception of honor. Indeed, honor killings are still very much a reality, acknowledged by the United Nations which estimates thousands of women are murdered each year for perceived crimes ranging from simple flirtation to being the innocent victims of sexual assault. Like the “Stoning of Soraya M.,” “Bliss” is a film that needs to be seen by a wide audience because it addresses the peril faced by far too many Muslim women in world today.
Aside from the importance of its subject matter, “Bliss” holds up very well in pure cinematic terms. It’s an absorbing film that incorporates elements of an “on-the-run” thriller with a shrewd examination of the uneasy marriage of the modern and the traditional in contemporary Turkey. Highly recommended, it opens today at the Cinema Village.
Joe Bendel blogs on jazz and cultural issues at www.jbspins.blogspot.com and coordinated the Jazz Foundation of America's instrument-donation campaign for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
