User Reviews

"Bu Son Olsun" (literally "Let this be the Last One") named after a politically motivated popular Turkish song is the latest dramedy about The 12 September 1980 Turkish coup d'état. Since early 1990s many Turkish movies, TV series, and theater plays have tried to severely reprimand the military power of the period for preparing ground for the military action by allowing the armed conflicts between leftist/rightist groups to escalate, torturing and hanging many young socialists under the pretext of restoring order and making people believe in a new constitution while the democracy was in its death throes. While some of these movies, especially the ones that were made in early 2000s have been somewhat successful after a fashion, none of them actually put the coup at its heart and actually none of them has had any comedy in it. Orçun Benli's directorial debut is somehow different in this sense. Born to a soldier father in 1980, Orçun Benli says he actually became cognizant of the inner dynamics of the period when he took interest in politics in mid 90s. His movie may be just a simple effort to shed some light on the period but he surely has had some scores to settle. He simply tells the story from the point of view of a bunch of homeless guys whose only aim is to add some color to the minutiae of their quotidian existence by drinking wine. Ironically, they are highly apolitical in a period when the whole political Weltanschauung is bringing a society to its knees and denuding it of its humanitarian touch. At first glance, the director Mr. Benli seems to be aloof and detached from the political ambiance as he is not trying to take any sides but when this unlikely quintet ends up in prison among political convicts, he does show his color and start caricaturizing the characters. The prison director depicted as a burlesque of monolithic civilian bureaucracy, the infirmary doctor satirized as a travesty of medical conscience, the ridiculed ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves are deliberately used to achieve a grotesque comedy effect but did they really succeed in doing so? I don't think so. As soon as the homeless apolitical fellows end up in prison, the screwball comedy takes a sharp unconvincing turn towards dark comedy. In addition to this, the director expedites the dénouement of the movie and leaves a serious plot hole.( The prison director wants the quintet to act his mole in the ward. We do not see whether they do accept this or what they are going to help out the director. In their only effort to help out the director, we seem them helping out all the prisoners to escape in an unreal oneiric escape. To cap it all, the drama loses all its realistic effect when we see the prisoners looking all dandy and fine who were actually beaten up a short time ago. "Bu Son Olsun" may look like a promising debut but it is likely to be a at the box-office failure and I'm afraid Orçun Benli may end up among more than 30 Turkish directors who have not had the chance to make their second movie after their promising debuts in recent years.