Balik (2014) User Reviews

A Film Combining Social Criticism with A Reflection on Human Life as a Whole

[l_rawjalaurence · 8/10 · 6 July 2015]

BALIK resembles many of Derviş Zaim's previous films in the way it combines social criticism with an ontological reflection on human beings' place in the world. The plot is a straightforward one - in a seaside village close to Bursa fisherman Kaya (Bülent İnal) finds a way to make money and increase his daily catch. By polluting the water in an out-of-the-way place through pouring oil into the sea, many dead fish come to the surface and he can subsequently take them to the fish market and get a good price for them. Unfortunately the scheme comes to grief, especially as far as his wife Filiz (Sanem Çelik) is concerned.

BALIK is a damning indictment of capitalism, symbolized in the film through regular shots of Kaya and his fellow-fishermen counting out banknotes as part of their regular wheeling and dealing. Although they end up prosperous, they do so at the expense of the natural environment. Zaim returns to his regular preoccupation with water as a symbol of life; it not only keeps human beings alive, but contains a great variety of alternative life-forms, fish, plankton and the like. By polluting the water Kaya is not only disrupting the balance of nature, he is killing off all these life-forms.

The story is set against the seasons; during spring and summer Kaya prospers; in winter he is shown at his lowest ebb. The sheer insignificance of the protagonists is suggested through regular shots of the sky, the sunset and sunrise: for all their attempts to make money, they are really not important in the general scheme of things. It is part of Kaya's tragedy that he fails to understand this basic fact.

BALIK asks us to reflect on what the essence of humanity represents; it is something far more than simple money-making, but rather comprises a respect for the order of the universe in which every living thing has its place. Kaya comes to realize this at the film's end, even though it takes a major tragedy in his life for him to come to that realization.

Fish

[mkurtsen · 10/10 · 29 March 2020]

I watched the movie today at 17.00 in a program called "New Movies Selection". . I came home at 24.00, I am still under my influence ,, I have a movie in mind, I wanted to write and share a few lines immediately. D. Zaim (1964) does not need to say much , everyone knows about film making , I know that he was just a literary artist before the cinema, and that he made his first book Ares in Wonderland, which won the Yunus Nadi Novel award in 1994, and later he shot Tabutta ...... (1997) in his first film Casket. . This film, which has won many awards at home and abroad, is another 8 films He writes and directs his films. I say it all the time, I say it again, the director is the director, the director is everything, cinema is not a collective art, but the movie is the director, the director, especially if he both wrote and directed, the other arguments are detail . (the first one is "Devil" see comments) Let me tell you a little bit about those who do not know. The story of Kaya (Bülent inal) wife Filiz (Sanem ... and their little daughter Deniz, who lives in a fishing village by the lake. Kaya is fishing, he takes the fish he fishes into fish, with his little money he gets his family's livelihood. The sea cannot speak, mother Filiz, as a remedy, pursues a breed of fish that is said to be useful to her daughter, found a new type of fish, reproduces it in the small facility in front of the house, feeds it to her daughter, believes that she will be fine when she eats, because she was unable to speak at that age, a kind of fish her grandfather found in the lake. He believes that he has recovered, he is trying to do something for the lake, he gives the lake a fit in his own words, so that he can take it. On the other hand, Kaya takes his daughter to the doctors for his medical treatment, he does not believe, so he has occasional discussions with his wife. They earn money for treatment, but their daily livelihood is enough. The fish he finds at home push him to build a fish farm, again money is needed, and the lack of money leads him to illegal fishing. In the idiom, he makes eyes when saying eyebrows and gives irreversible damage to himself and his family. This is the subject. There are lessons to be drawn from the movie, it is very important for fishermen. He underlines that the unconscious use of nature and the sea can compensate for impossible pain. I wrote Dervis I wrote the movie, let me write the actors, Bülent Inal, who got rid of the junction of the TV series and played very well, the text written on ice is prestigious, permanent. Sanem Çelik is a player I have been following since Y. Kadri Yaban in 1996, do not look at what I say the best of the new generation. Other side characters never go wrong. The shots are super, the photos and the summer and winter shots are like beauty, there is nothing incredible in the movie , life itself. We definitely need to watch, but, but there is no audience support, it should be, why do you withhold support for your absurd comedy like youngsters ivedi I see the total audience 3237 people are very painful, but this is nothing but a disgrace for the young cinema audience. There are well- sponsors from Allah, the Ministry of Culture supports those who do not touch this kind of water soap, but we also have directors like Zaim. Whether they always be, they always produce Watch. Wish you a good time 10/10 Mustafa Kurtsen