Strangely, there is no review for this although it's one of the most important Turkish films of all time, so I'm trying to fill the gap. The story in itself is simple: an Anatolian family moves to Istanbul joining the husband's parents, who convince him to invest his savings in a neighborhood store. As their son falls sick, the family ignores the pleas of the wife to pay for his treatment and berate her for consulting a doctor. She is told that the son has a heart problem and requires surgery, but the family refuses to let go of the store money and resorts to sorcery. The result is inevitable and drives the wife to desperate measures.
Lütfi Akad is Turkey's most respected director next to Yilmaz Güney. His most famous film in the West is the smuggling themed "Law of the Border" as it was restored by Scorcese's World Cinema Project, but his feminist themes are what his fame in Turkey is based on. His masterpiece is arguably "My Prostitute Love" but "The Bride" is a close second, as it remains depressingly relevant. 50 years after it was made and a century after the foundation of the Turkish Republic which granted women constitutional rights, this is still a reality for many women from rural areas.
What elevates Akad over Güney in my opinion is his remarkable skill for allegory. The grandfather gives his fatally ill grandson a ram to take care of until Eid when it is to be sacrificed, and tells him the story of how this ritual came to pass: as a remembrance of Abraham's sacrifice of his own son to test his faith, only to be told by God at the last moment to use a ram instead. In the end, the ram lives on and trots behind a funeral procession. That's a powerful symbol which can make you burst into tears, unlike Güney's more political approach.
I hope the film is viewed more widely as this is an election year which will determine if Turkey reverts to the vision of its founder Kemal Atatürk or continues on a path of self-harm that is effectively described here.
