Quote of the Day- Elif Shafak

We are quoting famous Turkish people this month since October 29th is Turkish Republic's Day. I happen to be a Turkish-American, and unlike novelist Elif Shafak, whom I am quoting today, I actually try to avoid ethnic politics. But, as it is, a Facebook called "Armenians for Jesus" put me in their group without asking me first! The central conflict is not only my ethnicity, but also the fact that I am a human secularist!

While researching this piece, I was surprised to learn that Shafak, who turns 40 on Oct. 25, is actually a year younger than I am. She is not to be confused with Elif Batuman, a Turkish-American writer who published an excellent personal narrative called "Possesed..." about Russian writers last year.

Shafak has written essays, but she is primarily known as a novelist. She has arguably been the most controversial arts figure in Turkey since the late filmmaker/novelist Yilmaz Guney whose works in the 1970s and early 80s (he died in his late forties in France at a relatively young age) usually had very overt pro-Kurdish secterian views.

For her part, Shafak has encountered legal problems in Turkey for her her highly controversial 2006 novel "The Bastard of Istanbul," which unlike her contemporary Orhan Pamuk's works, was originally written in English.

Shafak decided to tackle the Turkish-Armenian controversy directly and she politically expressed her desires to see Turkey recognize those disputed events as a genocide.

Since I have had my own quicksand moments, such as the Armenians for Jesus Fiasco, I will refrain from my views on the matter here, which is certainly not inherent in my nature!

But, we will quote Shafak with a line from her latest novel "The Forty Rules of Love," which is ironically a best-seller in Turkey:

"Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we were the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven't loved enough."

My Choice for the Best Films of 1971

I had no intention of having two blog entries within a few days featuring fruits, but since we had problems finding a good image of Malcolm McDowell's Alex (and there were other snafus while putting this together!), we thought we would opt for (what else?!) some oranges.

McDowell lists his personal favorite guilty pleasures in the current issue of "Film Comment" and two of the films are ones that he was in. Amazingly, he did not list "Caligula."

Generally, we don't go with popular films for our own choices for the best films of a given, but "A Clockwork Orange," my own personal favorite Stanley Kubrick film, and I say this expecting a full rebutal from my friend Bilge Ebiri who prefers "Barry Lyndon" (1975), is also my favorite film from 1971, a year when I was just one year old.

Many people have said that 1971 was amazing year in cinema, and I have to agree. For whatever reason, filmmakers around the world, made amazing films and many of the films which will not make the cut on the list, such as "Two-Lane Blacktop" and "Sunday, Bloody Sunday," could have been the best film of years with few good films, such as 1989, which only had a few memorable films like Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing."

Here are my choices for the best films of 1971:

1) "A Clockwork Orange" (dir. Stanley Kubrick)

2) "The Last Picture Show" (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)

3) "Harold and Maude" (dir. Hal Ashby)

4)* "The French Connection" (dir. William Friedkin)

5) "Death in Venice" (Italy. dir-Luchino Visconti)

6) "Murmur of the Heart" (France. dir-Louis Malle)

7) "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" (dir. Robert Altman)

8) "Punishment Park" (dir. Peter Watkins)

9) "How Tasty My Little Frenchman" (Brazil. dir- Nelson Pereira dos Santos)

10) **"Baba/The Father"(Turkey. dir-Yilmaz Guney)

*-Oscar-winner for Best Film

**-"Baba" is only available on VHS, and in very limited supply, in the United States.

The Last 10 Films I've Seen

I will be the first person to admit this is a very strange list!

"The Cardinal" is the nightmare opus I feared it would be. Unless you are Catholic or an Otto Preminger fan, you will probably not be interested in seeing the film though John Huston is solid in a supporting role.

Huston directed "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison," with Robert Mitchum and Debroah Kerr. The film, which was quite good, marked the second time Kerr played a nun. "Black Narcicuss" was the first.

"Stoked-The Rise and Fall of Gator" is a tragic documentary about skateboarder Mark Rogowski SPOILER ALERT: He was imprisoned in California for murdering a female acquitance. A short time after his 31-year sentence, he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder. According to Wikipedia, he is eligible for parole this year.

"Fish Tank" is an excellent, but highly depressing English film which has won well-deserved critical praise.

"Mahkum/Confinement" is an over-the-top '70s Turkish action yarn with the familiar father-and-son soap opera plot which stars former matinee idol Cuneyt Arkin (pictured here) who is now 72 years old!

"8 Million Ways to Die" with Jeff Bridges and Andy Garcia was the last film from the great Hal Ashby. Sadly, it does not stand up to his great films like "Harold and Maude" by any stretch, but it makes for a great '80s nostalgia trip. I saw the film, which is not available on dvd, on IFC.

"Jud Seuss" is the highly infamous anti-Semitic German film made when Hitler ruled Germany in 1940. I found it on Youtube. Even though it is a historic film studied by scholars, it is also popular among skinheads because of its themes. The film's director Veit Harlan (1899-1964) is the subject of a new documentary. He was interestingly enough the late Stanley Kubrick's father-in-law.

"Umut/Hope" is a highly-regarded Turkish film from Yilmaz Guney, a man who Turkish conservatives still despise even though he died more than 20 years ago because of his politics. Though I am hardly a Turkish nationalist, I also differ with many of his far-left views, including his desire to see a free Kurdistan within Turkey (Guney was of Kurdish heritage). But, Guney, who was also a matinee idol in the sixties, is also highly recognized for his artistic accomplishments as a film director. His earlier film "Seyit Han/Bride of the Earth" (1969) was recently screened at the on-going Boston Turkish Film Festival.

Here are the last ten films I've seen. I must profess this idea came from the on-going series in "Film Comment" in which the magazine asks various film directors what are the last ten films they have seen.

This reminds me of a tweet I saw last week from Pee Wee Herman (Paul Rubens) in which the character/character actor said he was watching "Pee Wee's Big Adventure," a film which is NOT on this list!:

1. The Cardinal (Otto Preminger, 1963)
2. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (John Huston, 1957)
3. Stoked- The Rise and Fall of Gator (doc. Helen Stickler, 2002)
4. Venus (Roger Michell, 2006)
5. The French Connection (1971, William Friedkin)*
6. Fish Tank (2009, Andrea Arnold)
7. Mahkum/Confinement (1972, Turkey-Osman Seden/Cuneyt Arkin)
8. 8 Million Ways to Die (1986, Hal Ashby)
9. Jud Seuss (1940. Germany-Veit Harlan)
10. Umut/Hope (1970. Turkey-Yilmaz Guney/Serif Goren)