Saf

Kamil (Erol Afşin) and his wife Remziye (Saadet Işıl Aksoy) live in a slum in the Fikirtepe district of Istanbul. One day, the penniless but kind-hearted worker takes a job at a neighboring construction site. This goes against his opposition to urban gentrification, which has been intensified by the construction boom since Erdogan took office in Istanbul. Kamil even accepts the low wage that was paid to his predecessor, the Syrian refugee Amman (Kida Khodr Ramadan), who was unable to work due to an injury. When Amman wants his job back, it further fuels Kamil's inner conflicts – and leads to tragic complications. "Even if the story seems contrived, the unpretentious staging is entirely committed to neorealism and grounds the film in a pleasant way. Of particular note is the outstanding cinematography by Tudor Vladimir Panduru, who also worked with Cristian Mungiu on his last film, Bacalaureat: the contrast between urban vistas looming on the horizon and the unromanticized harshness of a gecekondu settlement in muted colors and the everyday horror of the hostile construction site is brought to life through his camera work. The aforementioned outstanding actors do the rest. Ali Vatansever wanted to pack a lot into his film, spending four years working on the script alone, according to his own statement, and although SAF cannot reach its full potential in terms of content despite the long development time, it has nevertheless become a very concentrated, haunting little film that can serve as a key to understanding the pressing problems of today's Turkey." (Sedat Aslan, on: artechock.de)