Nefes: Vatan sagolsun (2008)

Amsterdam gained in March a new film festival. The Amsterdam Turkish Film Festival started on March 19, 20 and 21 at the Amsterdam Theater Studio K. With deferent Dutch premières of Turkish films as Nefes of Levent Semerci. An impressive film about the conflict between the Turkish state and the PKK. A review by Andreas Mueller.

Apart from a few simple facts I knew little of the ongoing conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish resistance movement PKK. Most of the information that I had gathered derives from obvious sources: newspapers, television and radio. The information is usually comprised of merely rational conclusions and hardly ever sheds light on the human side of the conflict. How very differently it is depicted by the film Nefes. Building up to a gruesomely bloody conflict, Turkish film director Levent Semerci intertwines characters, cultures and emotions, creating a compelling and human storyline. 
 
Nefes is a remarkable film in many ways. Being uninitiated in the political conflict between the Turkish state and the Kurdish resistance movement PKK, one is shown a much richer perspective that just the political conflict, (military) hierarchy and notion of duty. All characters involved, both on the Turkish and Kurdish sides, sacrifice themselves for a higher goal: the imminent destruction of the enemy. The film revolves around an army commander and his soldiers, and as a viewer one develops nothing but sympathy for them, simply because of the human approach. Gradually the story reveals that all are pawns in a political game. No one escapes the strict rules, which in extreme circumstances, require self-sacrifice.

Nefes includes a series of facts that I found estranging. It isn't so much the political conflict itself but the culture in which it takes place. It is a culture drenched in collective and religious values that creates a distance for someone like myself who has been raised with a individualistic western perception. The extent of self-sacrifice for a collective goal, surely within this context, is unheard of here. Yet still the film contains sufficient elements that appeal to my 'critical and independent occidental psyche' and which make Nefes accessible again. One of the elements is the presence of Kurdish recruits amidst the platoon of soldiers. In a short scene one sees a Kurdish soldier explaining the Kurdish language to his Turkish colleague. Other scenes show how the soldiers tell each other stories of girlfriends who eagerly await them at home. Or the numerous telephone calls they make with worried family members. All moments in which individuals express personal feelings.

The climax in the film leaves nothing to the imagination. It is a lengthy and gruesome scene in which the PKK revenge the death of their fallen comrades and raze the military base to the ground in a brutal attack. The violent reality of the conflict immediately eradicates all (self-conceived) nuances and makes me realize that we are all subject to a political system. And unfortunately not all political systems are founded on democratic principles. Nefes attempts to question the rigid Turkish political system and its lack of democratic values. The current nationalistic policy is outdated and doesn't lead to the appeasement that has already taken place on a human level.

Trailer: