David O'ConnellTURK'S HEAD @ The French Film Festival
March 9th 2011 02:54
Within five minutes of Pascal Elbe’s drama of swollen moral and ethical boundaries, a loose array of individual lives have been glimpsed in snapshot, including a young Turkish boy, Bora (Samir Makhlouf), one of a gang sending lethal hail down upon a street from a rooftop; a doctor, Simon (Elbe) trying to navigate through the chaos, and Simon’s brother, Atom (Roschdy Zem), a detective.
From Bora’s hand a Molotov cocktail sails towards Simon’s car, setting it alight. But slipping free from his spread-eagling gang, Bora, his conscience stung, acts as a reluctant saviour for the innocent physician by pulling him free. Ironically he is lauded by the community for his act of bravery; the mayor even wants to award him a medal. His mother (Ronit Elkabetz) beams with pride, her son’s act providing fortification for the derided standing of her people in France.
For Bora, the attention is only a source of torture, his conflict exacerbated by the thought of dangerous repercussions looming once his fellow young Turks learn of his betrayal, an impulsive act that both condones and condemns him. At the same time, Atom is blinded by revenge he seeks against the perpetrator responsible for leaving his brother in a coma.
Turk’s Head (2010) is a diverting, if not outstanding drama of interconnecting lives. Though the film at times strains credibility, it at least fashions a reasonably interesting path for its characters as they ricochet around within one another’s spheres. The final effect isn’t so much of a profound or chilling statement about the reparations that need to be made for relations to heal within seething French cities drunk on racism and hatred, but of a sodden, sobering glimpse beneath a veil which, beyond our circumspection, will fall back neatly into place as if nothing we’ve seen really happened at all.
Elbe does a decent job as juggling duties, whilst the performances he elicits are uniformly strong, especially from the wonderful Elkabetz, so outstanding in The Band’s Visit (2007), who provides genuine steel as Bora’s tough-minded single mother. The strength of will she displays in maintaining her dignity even after having her pre-conceptions of her son spoiled is one of the film’s stronger facets.
The 2011 French Film Festival begins on March 8 and 9 in Sydney and Melbourne respectively before progressing to other states.
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