Award winning director Nuri Bilge Ceylan delivers a gripping and introspective storyline through spectacular visuals in Three Monkeys, originally titled uc Maymun (Turkish).
The film depicts a very basic human phenomenon – the forced need of not saying, hearing or even seeing things at times. Aptly titled Three Monkeys, the story deals with a family of three who pretend not to hear or see things that happen around them to avoid ugly situations. It all starts with a small, seemingly unimportant road accident, a case of drunk driving. The person involved, Servet (played by Ercan Kesal) happens to be a very important man who's running for the forthcoming elections. Not wanting to ruin his reputation at such a delicate moment, he asks his driver Eyup (Yavuz Bingol) to take the blame and offers him a lump sum in return.
In the nine months Eyup spends in prison, his wife Hacer (Hatice Aslan) and son Ismail (Rifat Sungar) see their entire world changing around them. While Ismail fails his exams and gets involved with the wrong kind of people and ends up getting beaten badly in street brawls, Hacer in order to straighten her son's life and indulge her fantasies falls prey to Servet's sexual advances.
Everything pours out when nine months later, Eyup comes back. The pent up feelings, misunderstandings, words that were once not said… everything comes out in the open. But they all still remain unsaid. The situation becomes heavy with underlying tension and stored up anger and emotions.
What's special, however, about the film is the subdued reactions of the characters in these situations. For example, Ismail's outburst on finding out about his mother's relationship with his father's boss can hardly be called an 'outburst'. He slaps his mother twice, but even then the reaction (however physical) doesn't do justice to the anger that is so visible in the character.
The father Eyup's reaction after learning about his wife's affair is more pronounced. Even then, watching it, you get the feeling that somewhere, there's anger still bottled up. Un-uttered words, un-told emotions choke up the characters who go through life feeling and looking heavy.
The director, Ceylan uses dark shades to depict an atmosphere of constant gloom making the underlying tension in the film more pronounced. But despite the grey shades which surround the grey characters in the film, every frame of the film is like a breath of fresh air. With exquisite camera work, the film can also be described as a painter's dream come true. The angles, the settings make for beautiful pictures both thought provoking and emotional throughout the length of the film.
Three Monkeys, a film which won the Nuri Bilge Ceylan the Best Director Award at Cannes 2008 and a nomination for the Golden Palm at the same ceremony, is definitely worth a watch. It's one of those films that make you think but does not depress you in any way. And if you like photography, or painting, or just appreciate plain art, watch it for the pure visual delight.
Three Monkeys is available on Excel Home Video
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