A Madonna in Laleli

Kudret Sabancı's 1999 Turkish film is set around Laleli in Istanbul and follows a group of men running a prostitution operation. When the arrangement built around a woman from Eastern Europe breaks down, the hierarchy among them falls apart too. The film belongs to the new crime narratives appearing in Turkish cinema at the end of the nineties and shows the Laleli of that period directly: the suitcase trade, temporary hotels and the unregistered economy. Güven Kıraç's performance is strong. The telling is coarse and the language harsh; the film does not aestheticise its violence, but the woman character's own voice is barely heard, and that is its clearest lack. Who it's for: viewers interested in Turkish independent cinema and urban crime narrative. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding content involving sexual violence and exploitation, or wanting the woman's point of view.