Yusuf and Kenan

Yusuf and Kenan are brothers. Their father is killed in a blood feud. It is dangerous for them to stay in the village and the two boys go to Istanbul, meaning to find their father's killer. They know nothing of the city. They sleep on the street, sell handkerchiefs, and take work as apprentices in an industrial yard. The idea of finding the man falls into the background in time; the real matter becomes staying alive. Ömer Kavur directs. Cem Davran and Tamer Çeliker are in the cast. The film was made in the years when migration from the countryside to the cities was intensifying in Turkey, and its subject is a direct result of it. The method is observational; the camera follows the boys and the city is not background but the force in front of them. Kavur does not ask for pity for them; the two are afraid, make mistakes and are hard on each other at times. The apprenticeship section is the most detailed part of the film and shows the child labour of the period directly. It is often mentioned among the works made on child labour in Turkish cinema. The narrative does not deliver on the promise of revenge, and that is its most honest side. Who it is for: viewers who like the seventies period of Turkish cinema and social realist narratives. Who it is not for: the register is heavy, the film offers no hope, and the technical quality carries the limits of its time.