'The most shocking Turkish movie ever": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0428059/reviews
TURKISH HEART-THROB ACTOR/MODEL: KENAN İMİRZALIOĞLU [b.1974] in MULTI-AWARD WINNING DRAMATIC EXPERIMENTAL DIRECTOR: UĞUR YÜCEL'S [b.1957] GLAM SEARCHING LURID STARK PHOTOGRAPHIC MODERNITY of the 2004 TURKISH CINEMA FILM: 'YAZI-TURA' or 'HEADS OR TAILS' [English Subtitles] EXPLODES the SEPTIC PUS of every kind of NEUROSIS that PLAGUES the MIND of PEOPLE of TURKEY:
- EARTHQUAKES
- ARMY
- MILITARY SECULAR OPPRESSION
- GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
- TERROR
- KURDISH-TURKISH APARTHEID
- MILITARY SERVICE that INDUCES POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER in the CONSCRIPTED
- MILITARY INJURY and DEATH
- SEPARATION of FAMILES
- GREEK-TURKISH APARTHEID
- FRIENDSHIP
- BETRAYAL
- LOVE
- ELOPEMENT
- SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE
- SIN
- DRUGS
- MAFIA
- PROSTITUTION
- TRANSVESTISM
- HOMOSEXUALITY
- DOUBLE CROSSING
- INSINCERITY
- HONOUR
- MELANCHOLIC
- LOSS OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE
- FATEFULNESS
- GOSSIP
CEVHER [KENAN İMİRZALIOĞLU] and his FRIEND: RIDVAN, played by actor OLGUN ŞİMŞEK [b. 1971], are two CONSCRIPTS returning home to İSTANBUL, and rural ANATOLIA respectively. They have both been INJURED by a LANDMINE in SOUTH EASTERN TURKEY through a STRANGE TWIST of FATE of RIDVAN. CEVHER has HEARING INJURY, RIDVAN the footballer-hopeful, has lost his GOAL-SCORING LEG.
Both BOYS, like is the CASE, are both left DEEPLY PSYCHOLOGICALLY DISTURBED by TURKISH ARMY CONSCRIPTION. THESE NAIVE YOUNG MALES were SUBJECTED to UNUSED SEPARATION from FAMILY and OFTEN SUBJECTED to HARDSHIP and CRUELTY. Many RETROSPECTIVE CASES AGAINST the TURKISH MILITARY for SUICIDES, RAPE, and MENTAL ILLNESS are CURRENTLY IN LAW COURTS. The BOYS COME BACK from the ARMY often as MENTALLY DISTURBED and UNLIKE the PEOPLE they were when they LEFT.
RIDVAN returns to the RURAL TOWN to find that his INJURY, LOST FOOTBALL DREAM and OSTRACISATION and GOSSIPING are AFFECTING his MIND. ALCOHOL, DRUGS, PORNOGRAPHY and MULTIPLE VIOLENT ARGUMENTS with FORMER FRIENDS and REJECTION by his FIANCÉE all PUSH RIDVAN and his aged mother the edge.
CEVHER is CAUGHT UP in the DIRECTORS EFFECTIVE RECONSTRUCTION of the 1999 ISTANBUL EARTHQUAKE that KILLED 70,000. The QUAKE CLAIMS his UNCLE. His PREVIOULSY UNKNOWN GREEK STEPMOTHER returns to ISTANBUL from GREECE. CEVHER meets a GREEK HALF-BROTHER he didn't know who is as EFFEMINATE a HOMOSEXUAL as CEVHER is a MACHO 'ALL-MAN' TURK. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER, DRUGS, MAFIA, FAILURE of his SMALL BUSINESS, GRIEF and FAMILY COMPLICATIONS and SEXUAL QUESTIONS and TRAGEDY eventually push CEVHER over the edge into MURDER and PRISON...
MELANCHOLIC FATEFULNESS of TURKEY plays out in GRAINY MODERNITY of the 2000s 'EUROIMAGES' CINEMA that aimed to LEAD TURKEY out of its 'SECULAR MELODRAMAS' to 'EUROPEAN ART CINEMA'. In this DECADE, starting with 'GÜNEŞE YOLCULUK' ['JOURNEY TO THE SUN'] in 1999 saw some of the most BREATHTAKING TURKISH FILMS as INDEPENDENT PROJECTS...
