WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Indomitability. Let us be frank–life is an undeniable challenge. While ideally filled with more “ups” than “downs”, existence still seems to discover a way to show that, sometimes, the ONLY way through to a better place will be experienced through trials by fire. Additionally, it becomes even more of a test when the circumstances that take us through these fires are mostly, if not ALL, not brought about by our OWN choices, but rather the actualities we’re in that seem to want nothing but for us to fail and fall. Therefore–will you RISE? For Sevgi Gormez (Aysegül Kaygusuz), it would appear despair, abuse, illness, and other constant misfortunes that hound her will BE all that she knows. From childhood through to adulthood, life has not been at all kind. Yet, even as she traverses through each supposedly insurmountable plight and all would seem lost, Sevgi Gormez maintained one mindset throughout–“I want to LIVE!”.
Next, my Mind:
It’s sheer devilry to the enigmatic beauty of the unexplainable divine, unforgiving maliciousness to undisputed miracles, overt hopelessness to affecting redemption, and one of the most potent illustrations and testaments to the shining force that is the human will to persevere and SURVIVE that we witness throughout this gut-wrenching yet ultimately inspiring 106-minute indie feature film from Turkish director/producer Yunus Sevik and writer Esma Sevik. Born out of a Turkish reality TV series called “If You Tell Me, It Becomes A Film”, this amazing hybrid of documentary and narrative-via-dramatization-based filmmaking brings about the tale of one commoner who ends up voluntarily allowing her life’s travails and triumphs to be made known to over 25 million viewers of the program on YouTube. The fortitude and transparency given to Gormez’ realities from the 1970’s to today is rawly, painfully heartbreaking and then finally, incredibly exceptional.
We’re immediately thrust into the unrelentingly harsh situations Gormez, her mother, and siblings endured at the hands of a purely tyrannical, flat out evil father/husband, which alone showcases a magnitude of personal resolve Gormez embodied that most people honestly would not have possessed in the conditions depicted. Then, into Gormez’ teen years, still under the thumb of her father’s cruelty, she is able to aid in the family’s separation from him, only to then see what at first was hope turn into a series of new obstacles that will physically and mentally debilitate her striving for improvement to life as she enters adulthood, marriage, and motherhood, STILL continuing to push through it all and somehow grasp onto any semblance of joy or faith that things WILL turn around. The film, because remember folks, what we are viewing DID happen, is REAL, carries us step by step on this primarily excruciating journey with a PURPOSE and ends up presenting a payoff in the finale that is SO worth all the harrowing disheartenment we’ve seen to that point.
THAT is the POWER of REAL LIFE when we see someone take on more stormy seas than one person should EVER have to face, stare them down, and find ANY means to realize that overcoming the odds IS the ONLY way to liberation and fulfillment, regardless of how overwhelming the waves building up in front of them are. To say this project is a prime study in putting our own worries and issues into a more feasible and needed perspective would be an understatement, not to INVALIDATE what we battle, but to just be reminded that so many of the things we take as “troubles” really are nothing compared to ACTUAL adversities some encounter like we see this is film, much less to have the degrees of emotional and physical stamina to make it through. And BELIEVE me, this film WILL absolutely grab your emotions and elevate them with completely intentional fervency, making you as the viewer FEEL and EXPERIENCE every hardship and hope exhibited. Thematic emphasis on the specter of deeply misguided patriarchal mentalities, social and cultural complexities, compassion, forgiveness, and dogged determination all get explored here.
Yasin Topbas‘ cinematography tackles the brutal realities of Gormez’ existence with a crisp intent and focus while Mustafa Yazicioglu‘s consistently evocative music score deftly highlights the unequivocal emotional turmoil the film’s story elicits, with both mediums together enhancing the cinematic foray we’re taken through in observing the culmination of a single person’s saga that could transform SO many others’ life paths. Kaygusuz has the honor and not-so-easy commitment of portraying the film’s primary core, Sevgi herself, and the actress does so with a truly stellar performance that just exudes the consummately unadulterated level of persistently volatile, unavoidably visceral, stirring, AND jarring emotional highs and lows required to paint the picture of Gormez’ journey, more specifically during her coming into adulthood and motherhood. Ardent and fully believable, Kaygusuz navigates the tempestuous maelstrom of joys and more so sorrows her real life counterpart found herself abiding within, and it is this performance echoing reality that allows Kaygusuz’ performance to burst forth so clearly, energetically, and impactfully.
Next utter standout here is Osman Findik who plays Sevgi’s definitive demon of a father during the earlier and mid-sections of the film. Now, I’ve said it before that when a character so GREATLY leaves you wanting from the VERY start to desire the ability to reach through the screen and strangle them yourself or otherwise sit there and just WISH total bodily harm on them, THAT is the mark of a SUPERB actor, and to say Findik brought these sensibilities out in me would likewise be a massive understatement. What strikes me the most is that this is a portrayal OF reality, and to think this man was THAT insanely abusive to his wife is bad enough, but ALSO to his KIDS??!! Truly unthinkable. How Findik just emotes with SUCH a degree of aggressive menace and plain evil is a credit to the actor’s skills and dedication to BE what he needed to be to bring all-encompassing soulless, remorseless animosity to the character as required. A very impressive performance and I can only imagine not remotely EASY to play that kind of person.
Esra Vural plays Sevgi’s LONG-SUFFERING mother, who we see had to, quite literally along with her children, PREVAIL through totally unacceptable and disturbing conditions during Sevgi’s childhood and teen years before FINALLY seeing liberation from it. It is an image of the scope and unconditional commitment a mother has for her children, and even as she had to then watch Sevgi’s other obstacles arise, she stayed true and supportive. Vural does a fantastic job at being that representation of a battered woman standing firm in the face of her own battles while keeping her children first and foremost even when having the uncertainties of the future, and then always exhibiting how that love carried Sevgi through. Yavuz Aksoy plays Sevgi’s husband who proved that while someone may seem one way at first, even for a good length of time, the dilemmas of life bring out who they REALLY are. This gets portrayed very, very well through Aksoy’s performance in how he depicts Sevgi’s husband in precisely this manner and how it drastically influenced her to face both past AND present abuse, but also raised her level of forgiveness.
Additional (and please understand, while not in the same DETAIL as above, I do mean this–highly astute and KEY) performances that round out the main cast include Erol Aydemir as Sevgi’s brother who also had his own circumstances to face as their lives progressed, Semanur Beren Aydemir as Sevgi’s sister who also encountered strife in her marriage briefly that brought about moving to Istanbul for a time with Sevgi, and Gazel Yüksel as the youngest version of Sevgi we see in the film, but who unquestionably made an impression given the situations she had to portray! There is a WEALTH of supporting actors over the course of the film, and I hope you ALL accept that while not being mentioned by name, you are ALL important to this film and deserve a hearty “BRAVO!!” for your parts in it. Overall, I give another round of grander applause to the primary cast above, as to embrace such a story as this would still have been a trying adventure, but the results speak for themselves.
So, in total, “Yasamak İstiyorum – I Want To Live” becomes one of those necessary and highly provocative indie film efforts that serves as an awareness-raising vehicle to so many extents, giving us a candid, dynamic, unapologetic, blunt force punch to the gut that I hope will cause others who watch it to assess their own lives, especially when feeling like the world is nothing but against them. In doing so, I pray we discover a depth of strength, tenacity, courage, and confidence like Sevgi Gormez did so that, ideally, in the ensuing victories over mountains that come about, it will INSPIRE us as human beings to bring this same example and awakening to even more people that we might ultimately attest to a world transformed for the better.
STAR RATING (out of 5):
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
