Search This Blog

Friday 15 July 2011

Film - Bal - directed by Semih Kaplanoglu


Star rating – 7/10

This is a beautiful and very touching film about a six year old Turkish boy, and his relationship with his beloved father, and the wider world.

Bora Atlas is outstanding as the lonely young boy Yusef who stammers at school, hardly speaks to his mother, but can communicate deeply with his loving father Yakup by whispering into his ear. The family are poor, surviving only on the increasingly precarious business of beekeeping in the remote forests of northern Turkey. And Yakup is forced to seek out the bees that keep his family in farther flung and more dangerous pastures.

It is a poetic and beautiful film, possibly a little over long and in need of a bit more judicious editing, but one which is refreshing and simple in its images and message.

No comments:

Post a Comment