Illustration

Sometimes we fail to give the events or phenomena before our eyes the reaction they deserve, and begin to understand them only when we see them painted in a picture or watch them projected on a dark screen. That is why art is beautiful, and that is also why some see it as dangerous.

Starting from this point, I am going to recommend a film to you whose story is entirely the product of reality.

I should say at the outset that this is not a big box-office film. But because of its subject and its actors’ performances, it is much discussed on respected international platforms. It has not yet been released in Turkey. Besides, considering the cinema industry and the average audience in Turkey, it does not look likely to catch on at the moment either. Nevertheless, I think it will in future be one of the strongest candidates for popular lists such as “Appreciated only later”.

Now let us come to the film’s story.

*** Warning! Contains spoilers ***

The film opens with the deathbed words of Mr. Subragor, owner of the valuable “Welfare Farm”, hundreds of acres in size with a magnificent mansion on it, one of the wealthiest families in the region.

“My children! Our farm is in the finest location in this city and is one of the seven self-sufficient farms. Know well the value of yourselves, of this place and of the farm’s residents!”

After the old man’s death, there is a mountain of work to be done, and none of the family members is competent for it. They find the solution in marrying the family’s eldest daughter, Madam BrownShirt, to Fox, with whom she is already flirting, and having the business run by him.

The director has included neither a scene of the old man’s funeral nor any footage of the wedding.

The new son-in-law Fox moves into the mansion and is now one of the family. Apart from one or two objections, he takes charge of the farm and the business by a majority vote of the family members.

Some of the mansion’s columns have rotted and the cracks on its outer façade have become visible. To cover the cost of repairing them, he needs to work harder. Instead, however, he covers the cost of repairs by selling part of the farm. To get more yield from the land, he has technological farm machinery bought on credit. Almost a revolution has begun on the farm, and the household and farm residents are excited by this renewal, but they say nothing about the money needed being raised through the sale of land or credit.

At the same time, when talks begin with the “Farmers Association”, which includes only the select farms, everyone now believes that the mansion and farm will be the best in the region and that with Fox they will find their true worth. So much so that in one scene Fox’s wife BrownShirt says he was sent by a divine power, while the youngest daughter Bluenosed claims her brother-in-law is practically “the chosen one!”

This is where the film’s first turning point comes. After this scene a gloomier atmosphere descends on the film. Fox, who at first behaves more sensibly, begins to grow arrogant in return for the favour shown to him. The director has managed to convey this change in the lead actor very successfully. For example, Fox gradually begins to hire more servants for the mansion, and more luxury follows.

As things progress, these innovations change shape. For example, because mowing and gardening are expensive, the grass in front of the mansion is replaced with artificial turf; the number of farmhands is reduced, some of the crops produced there are dropped and begin to be bought from other farms; the cows are sold below their value and the need for milk and meat is also met from outside.

Until that day everyone is content with their life, but when Fox says out of the blue that he wants to uproot the ancestral plane tree right in front of the mansion and put a fountain in its place, voices begin to be raised in the house. He manages to silence Leftwinger, the family’s middle son, who most opposes his behaviour, by threats, blackmail and even torment, and to get his way. This incident also gives clues about how he will act in later scenes and about his real aim.

Fox now sees himself as the sole and true owner of the farm and the mansion and secretly begins to transfer the farm’s income to his own account. Indeed, here we see through the flashback technique often used in cinema that Fox made a secret deal with the company they had hired to repair the mansion, so that instead of the real work only a façade cladding was done, and he put the rest of the money in his own coffers.

Fox is in fine spirits, but things are not going well on the farm. Beneath its showy cladding the mansion’s cracks are deepening from within, the farm keeps shrinking because of land sales, there are difficulties in repaying the loans, and income is falling because production has dropped.

No one in the house notices that Fox has placed another safe beneath the family safe and, through a hole he has opened, is transferring some of the money, gold and valuables from one to the other. Until the family’s youngest son, Scapegoat, notices the trick he is playing with the safe and catches him red-handed in front of everyone! Despite being caught in the act and everything being recorded, few will believe him. For example, BrownShirt remains silent because she is in league with her husband and blinded by luxury, Leftwinger because he has been cowed, and BlueNosed because she cannot believe it of Fox.

Fox, whose fear at the moment of being caught red-handed shows in all his gestures and expressions, sees that no one has believed the incident and, saying “The best defence is offence”, immediately goes on the counter-attack. Declaring that whatever he did, he did for the farm, that Scapegoat has plotted against him and that he is a troublemaker trying to break up the family’s unity, he locks him in a shed in the farthest corner of the farm.

But this also brings fear, and Fox fears that someone will harm him. He increases the number of security guards on the farm and begins to give them more and more authority.

Of course, we understand the reason for these efforts from the film’s final scene. Here, the residents of the farm and mansion wake one night and are horrified to see that everything has been turned upside down, some trees have been felled, the mansion’s windows smashed and several places shot at.

That night Fox is in another city and, as soon as he hears of the incident, immediately returns to the farm and addresses the bewildered people trying to understand what has happened. Although he knows he has locked him in the shed, he says that this chaos was organised by Scapegoat together with some farm security guards working on his behalf, that fortunately he has brought everything under control by phone, and that those who did this will be punished in the harshest way.

The film ends open-ended, with clues laid in through details such as the sign with the farm’s new name, “Mr. Fox’s Farm”, being hung in place, the lights in various places being removed and the fence walls being raised even higher, leaving the audience to guess the outcome. If, despite this, there is anyone who cannot guess the ending when they finish the film, let them watch the director’s earlier films. Or let them open their eyes, get up from their seat and watch a little more carefully what is really going on in Turkey!

I wish you a good viewing.