Kader

If movie art would be mentioned as a football game, i would assume Demirkubuz as Johan Cruyff. I think Kader is the best example of the simple and fascinating character of Turkish Movie. Simplicity is the key word not only of Demirkubuz and Cruyff, but also of being expressive directly in movie art.

In the final part of film, the speech of Bekir is like the bullet of the speech of Frank (Denis Hopper) of Blue Velvet, it had its place in deepest part of my heart.

If we should make a choose of a masterpiece, Kader is the first candidate with its original and impressive language.

Bekir is married,has two kids.But he loves Ugur,he goes wherever she goes.Ugur is a bar singer,she loves Zagor,she goes wherever Zagor goes.Zagor is a cop killer,he visits prisons all over in Turkey.An endless story about two lovers...

A great story written,photographed and directed by Zeki Demirkubuz.Well acted at the same time.Vildan Atasever as Ugur.Now one of the most talented actresses in Turkey.And especially Ufuk Bayraktar as Bekir.Watching his change in the role is really fascinating.The movie,the cast and the crew everyone deserved the Altin Portakal.Congratulations...

Conceived as a prequel to MASUMİYET (1997), KADER (DESTINY) focuses on an impossible love-affair between Bekir (Ufuk Bayraktar) and Uğur (Vildan Atasever) that begins in the seedier areas of Beyoğlu in İstanbul and remains unfinished in the snowy wastes of Kars in the east of the Republic of Turkey.

The sentiments expressed are redolent of the Yeşilçam melodramas that hitherto have formed a backdrop to many of Demirkubuz's movies. Bekir leaves his wife Emine (Güzin Alkan) and children on at least two occasions to pursue Uğur all around the country, despite the hopelessness of his quest. Uğur remains in love with habitual criminal Zagor (Ozan Bilen), who is transferred from prison to prison following a series of attacks on police officers, wardens and fellow inmates. Uğur keeps telling Bekir to go home, but he keeps reappearing in her life at the most inopportune moments; in the Black Sea port of Sinop, for example, she is evicted from her hotel room as Bekir clamors to see her. The ill-matched couple finally fetch up at a mud-brick house in Kars; nothing is resolved (which subverts the Yeşilçam convention).

Demirkubuz invests this story with gritty social realism. Uğur grows up in a violent environment where women are routinely treated as sex-objects with little power of self-determination. She cannot quite grasp the fact that Bekir lacks the outward strength to conform to her expectations of all men. Bekir likes to exchange sex-talk with his male friends, but hardly conforms to the image of masculinity that prevails in his immediate surroundings, that is based on power and aggression. It is the kind of world where Uğur's mother's boyfriend Cevat (Engin Akyürek) is knifed to death in a kıraathane (coffee-house), simply for causing an argument.

In this kind of environment where such feelings as love and tenderness mean nothing, it's hardly surprising that the central love-affair remains unfulfilled. Bekir must shoulder some of the blame for this; at one point he vividly describes how he made love to Uğur on the first occasion they met. In truth he was almost embarrassed in her presence, unable to speak or communicate properly and falling in love with her photograph. Yet the admission of such emotions is considered "unmanly," something that Bekir is keen to avoid.

On at least three occasions the protagonists refer to destiny directing their lives: Uğur cannot help but pursue Zagor, despite his propensity for being imprisoned, while Bekir cannot avoid pursuing Uğur all round the country, even if by doing so he enters "another world," in which marriage, home and family (the traditional symbols of social and moral stability) no longer matter. We might disagree with the protagonists' analysis - to a large extent their decisions are made of their own free will - but we nonetheless understand quite tangibly how their characters have been shaped by the harsh environment in which they have grown up. This is the fundamental socio-economic point that KADER makes; if the families showed more concern for their members and their collective futures, then perhaps the world might be a less unforgiving place.

We don't get Turkish films in Australia, apart from the odd festival piece. We have to wait for the DVDs to arrive or to be sent by relatives. I have just seen Kader.

How interesting it is that characters and reviewers alike talk about Bekir's love for Ugur. In every culture, there is a degree of confusion where love ends and obsession begins, but in my experience it has always been a particular Mediterrenean/Balkan disease. The director, very skillfully, conveys that in an environment where all conviction is hopeless dedicating a life to a person makes as much sense as any other formula for living. Bekir's obsession for Ugur intensifies because of, not despite, her rejection of him. However, the film is much more than a doomed love story. It is at once an exploration of alienation of youth, a study of roots of violence and a critique of machismo culture. Bekir's character reminded me a line from a well-known Turkish poem: "Like a pain without a body / seeking an organ to attach itself" (my translation, my apologies to purists). In reality, the line applies to all the major characters in the film. Much criticised ending is perfect, in my opinion. I cannot imagine a better way to end this important addition to modern Turkish cinema.

This is the best Turkish movie i have ever watched..its realism, realistic characters,realistic story containing all humanistic and ethical values are already milestones for not only Turkish cinema but also all world. Zeki Demirkubuz's best film,even better than "Masumiyet".Demirkubuz return back to the youth of Bekir and Ugur by telling the Zagor's world.Love that Bekir feels to Ugur and Ugur to Zagor makes us think about almost all ideas related to human and crime.In general , "Kader" is about life,human and what so ever. i do NOT find more words to comment on. i suppose;the ones watched the film will understand my surprised and shocked mode.