SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN

Not quite holy or foolish enough to be a holy fool, Istanbul vagrant Mahsun nonetheless means no real harm. He habitually steals cars, but simply to get around and have a warm place to sleep. He's caught when he dutifully returns vehicles to their orgiinal parking spots, but police wearily familiar with Mahsu's antics deny him even a jail cell. He finds acceptance only with other casual laborers on a fishing boat. They once loitered around the stone walls of ancient Rumelihisar Fortress, but when Iran gives Turkey a gift of peacocks to roam the grounds, Mahsun and his friends find themselves barred even from that. Fate seems to be taking what little Mahsun has, and when he reaches out to help a woman in distress he truly jeopardizes his toehold on security. Like the dogged and strangely ennobled hero, writer/director Zaim persevered with the tiniest of budges, and made a sympathetic, realistic look at a social outcast that probes the humanity in its subject's deep, sad eyes. “This film is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; nevertheless we have fictionalized it,” proudly declares the credits. “We've made this film together.” (In Turkish with English subtitles)