My Dear Brother

This film is an exception in Ertem Eğilmez's filmography. The same director, the same production company and largely the same actors are known for comedies like Hababam Sınıfı and Mavi Boncuk. There is no laughter here. A boy is diagnosed with leukaemia, and his older brother and a friend chase down his last wish. The wish is a television set, which in 1970s Turkey was genuinely hard to get into a poor household. Kahraman Kıral plays the boy, Tarık Akan the brother and Halit Akçatepe the friend. The screenplay is again by Arzu Film's regular writer Sadık Şendil. It opened on 1 March 1973 and did not perform at the box office. It did win Eğilmez Best Director at the 5th Adana Golden Boll festival, along with awards for Erdoğan Engin's cinematography and Cahit Oben's score, and was named second best film. Today it is among the most frequently cited Turkish films. Who it is for: viewers curious about Yeşilçam melodrama at street level, without the usual excess. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot take a sick-child narrative. The film does not hide where it is going and carries that weight to the end.