Passed by Censor

Passed by Censor (2019), Turkey

What happens when your job is screening the letters received and written by prisoners ? You'd better a dimwit and definitely not sensitive and curious, taking them personally.

When you explore the truth through the medium of stories and inquiries, would you accept the truth after finding them, or will you want to change it ?

Overall, brilliantly conceived and executed.

A remarkable debut film by Serhat Kara-aslan that opened the International Film Festival of Kerala. The synopsis did not impress me, but the film did. The screenplay raised the film above mediocrity, almost reminding one of Francois Ozon films where the screenplay and creative writing (within the film) are interlinked. The performances of the main characters are credible -- but director Semih Kaplanoglu's discovery, the actress Saadet Aksoy, whom he used in two of his Yusuf trilogy films, "Milk" and "Egg" is stunning in "Passed by Censor" in the rather short screen time. It is to the credit of the screenplay writers that the altercation in the prison conjugal room is left for the viewer to figure out or "conjecture"--a term used and discussed within the film. Morally, is the censor a pervert or is he a Hercule Poirot, writing his first novel, using a real scenario (the Ozon parallel)? What the film unfortunately underscores is the all pervasive male-dominated Turkish society, even when the women are obviously educated..