A Turkish broken angel in America Saturday, March 22, 2008 The American-Turkish joint production 'Broken Angel' (Meleğin Sırları) by newcomer Turkish director Aclan Büyüktürkoğlu and his wife, screenwriter Leslie Bates comes out as not as a critique of miscommunication in an age of multiculturalism as promoted, but as an average crime drama happening to feature Turkish and American characters EMRAH GÜLER ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News Before it hit the screens, "Broken Angel," or "Meleğin Sırları" to the Turkish audience, was promoted as the first Turkish-American joint production. As such, the film begins like a genuine joint production from its opening credits. The credits are presented in Turkish and English simultaneously, finally enlightening the curious minds how "Executive producer" is translated in Turkish. The movie begins with a dark tone, with Turkish and English speakers on a quest to find a missing young Turkish girl, in a surprisingly grim Los Angeles. The film leaps back and forth, presenting the missing pieces of Ebru's life since her arrival in LA to learn English to today. In the film, a group of Turks and Americans brought together under the circumstances try to find out what happened to Ebru (Nehir Erdoğan). Ebru's mother Şermin (Ayşe Nil Şamlıoğlu), her brother Korhan (Emrah Polatoğlu), Ebru's employer and owner of a Turkish restaurant Filiz (Nilüfer Açıkalın), her American husband Michael (Jay Karnes), and Ebru's Turkish friend Aslı (Ajla Hodzic) all try to locate the girl. "Broken Angel" is the product of a Turkish director, Aclan Büyüktürkoğlu, and his wife Leslie Bates-Büyüktürkoğlu, an American screenwriter who lived for more than a decade in Turkey. Büyüktürkoğlu is an experienced actor who performed in Ankara Turkish State Theaters for years, eventually moving to stage directing and directing short films and documentaries in the United States. "Broken Angel" is Büyüktürkoğlu's first feature film. The unfortunate thing about the movie is that its promotion (mainly press releases) presented the movie as a grand tale on multiculturalism, Turks living in the U.S., and a tale of two cultures. It would definitely be for the benefit of the movie if it was advertised as the modest mystery movie it is. A thriller that happens to feature characters from two countries. Cautionary tale for the young The movie does not say anything about the clash of two cultures or the existence of Turks in a Western country as it claims. What "Broken Angel" mostly is, is a cautionary tale on youth and how things might go horribly wrong in a strange place. The story could, of course, be valid for any young person from any country moving elsewhere in the world, or simply going off to another city in their own country for that matter. Not only young people but everyone goes through broken hearts, financial difficulties and disappointments after trusting the wrong people. It is basically called growing up. In "Broken Angel," simple mishaps lead to great tragedies. The story does not allow its leading character to take any responsibilities, do the right thing or simply be lucky as happens in real life. At the center of the film is a young woman, Ebru, going to one of the most civilized places in the world to study, one of the safest things you can do in the modern world. But from her first day in LA, we are introduced to a feeling of the impending doom. The cardboard housemates, the deaf and mute son of the patron of the house she is staying in, the new boyfriend, and his ex-girlfriend are all treated as cliches as if they were in a second rate crime drama. If the movie was a clever crime drama, focusing on the unraveling of events leading to Ebru's disappearance or a psychological drama, giving insights into characters' personalities, it would have passed as a satisfying drama with multiculturalism on the side. However, the movie chooses to focus on miscommunication simply because of not speaking another language, nothing on cultural differences. After having seen movies like Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" or famed Turkish-German director Fatih Akın's "Duvara Karşı" (Head On) and "Yaşamın Kıyısında" (The Edge of Heaven), the director-screenwriter duo of Büyüktürkoğlus' first attempt in feature films, "Broken Angel" seems like a dire effort at looking at multiculturalism. And after seeing television shows like "The Shield" and "The Wire," it seems like even more of a dire attempt at creating a crime drama. | |
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Sema Karaoglu, Founder Meltem Birkegren, Director
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