Overtime

Istanbul, today. The city has become one big machine that pulls people apart. Through the streets of the city echo the voices of young male and female workers.  The harsh reality of an uncertain economic phase is felt in each segment of what is left of the Turkish society class structure. A Kurdish girl stands up against her family rules and tradition. The last young member of a diminished clan remembers the past ruefully. A child worker is forced to support his family since he is the only one who earns some money. A young unemployed male sells himself to tourists in front of the Blue Mosque. His body is the last working tool he is left with. Torn between the West and the East, Istanbul becomes the city symbol of a world that can neither go back nor (yet…) step forward. Gürcan Keltek portrays the culturally and economically marginalized Muslim working class with a strong visual flair. Shot in a potent and grainy black and white, Fazlamesai is a sorrowful meditation on how people struggle to hang on to their lives and hopes when facing some of the bitterest hardships.

Giona A. Nazzaro