The Teacher

Husnu Celik teaches in a village and, on the strength of his record, requests and receives a transfer to Istanbul, which the family treats as a step up. In the city the salary does not cover anything: he takes on extra work, fails at each of it, and the situation deteriorates by stages. By the end he has lost his mind and is taken to hospital. Among the films Kartal Tibet and Kemal Sunal made together this one stands apart, because there is almost no comedy in it; Sunal is not trying to get laughs and carries the weight of the part instead. The argument is direct: a teacher's salary will not keep a family standing in the city. It is a hard document of Turkey at the end of the eighties. Who it is for: viewers who want Sunal's dramatic side and Turkish films that state their social criticism plainly. Who it is not for: anyone expecting the familiar Sunal comedy, since this one does not laugh.