Contemporary Turkey Unveiled

Takva – A Man’s Fear of God, based on the screen by Önder Çakar and produced by Feridoun Koc, who both joined us after the screening, exhilarated last night’s audience. The film convincingly and critically straddles the clashing overlapping of the sacred and profane in contemporary Turkey.

The backdrop to the story of Muharrem, a simple and pious Muslim, driven mad by worldly temptations, is the hypocrisy of fundamentalist religious sects, which, according to the screen-writer, are illegal in Turkey though so widespread – there exist 2000 in Istanbul alone, and as many as 25,000 throughout Turkey – the sacred as well as the secular authorities turn their blind eye to them. Yet Takva does not merely tackle the role of the sects, but primarily offers a sensitive insight into the deep recesses of human soul, in all social and cultural systems torn between primal instincts and moral restraints.

The film was thus favourably received not only in Turkey, but also by the Slovenian spectators, who can get a glimpse of contemporary Turkey again on 14 and 15 November.

Tina Bilban