Üç maymun (2008)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Writers:

Ebru Ceylan (screenplay)
Nuri Bilge Ceylan (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A family suffers from a major communication breakdown during their struggle to to get through their hardships. |

Plot Keywords:

Mosque | Minimalism | Istanbul | Hit And Run | Rain

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Yavuz Bingol	...	Eyüp
Hatice Aslan	...	Hacer
Rifat Sungar	...	Ismail
Ercan Kesal	...	Servet
Cafer Köse	...	Bayram
Gürkan Aydin	...	The Child

Also Known As:

Three Monkeys (International: English title) (USA) (new title)
Le tre scimmie (Italy)
Les trois singes (France)

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

Turkey | France | Italy

Language:

Turkish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Hong Kong:III | USA:Unrated | Brazil:14

Company:

Zeynofilm

Trivia:

Turkey's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

Goofs:

Continuity: Ismail's safety belt fastened on and off at consecutive cuts,while he is driving his father back from the prison.

Political Crime... A realistic social view of middle-class Turkish society after the 1996 Susurluk case

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan brings the bridge between the politics and the social order into sharp relief, after the 1996 Susurluk case in Turkey; where innocents get punished instead of the actual criminals. A strong plot yet faltering story-telling. The accord between each actors lead us to a confusion about the happenings, for all the four main characters are playing sulky and disgruntled moods. Rıfat Sungar playing İsmail-the son of the family- is the worst of all. Because he is the center of all the happenings in the movie, we see him at almost every scene. Dialogues between characters were so stuffy that a non-Turkish viewer would have a hard time to understand why a regular 20 year old handsome boy lives a life time crisis; which is because of the academic qualification exams. This is a mistake from the screenplay that disinclines the non-Turkish viewers away.

As the story progresses Ceylan's talented directing takes control of our attention ultimately. As a reminder, he used to be a photographer; so get ready for strange and interesting aerial views from Istanbul which you cannot find nowhere else. Have you ever seen an apartment building that much strange looking? Believe me, people actually do live in those junk apartments, and work 2 jobs everyday just to be able to pay the rent in Istanbul. Just three steps away from that slum landlords' houses, there lies the railroad and the Bosphorus.

Despite the sightly views from the city, we begin to wonder about each character's upshot. We have a broken family portrait. Father of the family has gone behind bars to save a politics party leader's ass. Then that leader who employs him gets use of his absence and begins to a sexual affair with his wife. The son of the family decodes that affair between them. After arguing with his mother, he kills the party leader the day his father got out of jail. Finally, instead of winding up behind bars to save his son's future; the father blackmails an innocent child to make him stand the racket.

As a matter of fact, this waterfall effect oppressed a minority of innocents since the Susurluk case of 1996 in Turkey. Imagine a country of 70 million population bearing those politics leaders for so long. Out of cowardice and deep resentment those politics leaders never took their own responsibility of social, governmental and inflationary chaos. No one knew the consequences of their own cruelty. Nonetheless, Turkey still has enlightened individuals like director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Thanks for his enlightening work of 3 Monkeys.

Attention viewers!! Oscar-worthy directing and cinematography... The strongest nominee of the 2008 Best Foreign Language Feature Film in Hollywood!!