Word: turkishly
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...Wall" is at its best when it focuses on the stories and experiences of the everyday people of Cyprus. The film first introduces Hassan, a Turkish shepherd married to Habou, a Greek woman. Hassan bears witness to the harshness of a shepherd's existence, a life lived without modern conveniences, which he blames on the partition of Cyprus. Because he was married to a Greek, he underwent all manner of difficulties and dangers, including the time when he was threatened with prison because his wife's Greek relatives visited his house. There were several occasions when he almost...
...clips of newsreels that provide the historical background for the current situation. One sees the period when Cyprus was a British colony, followed by an announcement from Queen Elizabeth II proclaiming Cyprus' independence. One sees the struggle between Enosis, the movement for union with Greece, and Taksin, the Turkish proposal for partition. Finally, there is the occupation by Turkish troops and the UN-regulated division of the island...
...film shifts gears with the introduction of Neshe Yasin, a Turkish woman poet who delivers a poignant Proustian reverie on a village from her childhood called Peristerona. Yasin's recherche du temps perduis the most explicit instance of the film's obsession with the question of memory. All the film's participants are intent on memory, remembering what was lost and the crimes committed by both sides. The film implies that the future of Cyprus depends in part on whether people can move beyond the memory of crimes, injustices and mutual recriminations...
Yasin conducts interviews with Turkish and Greek women. This section of the film is the most wrenching. The encounters with Hassan and Kizilyurek's charming aunt leave one unprepared for the intensity and impact of the interviews in this section. Particularly harrowing is a Greek woman's description of abuse by Turkish soldiers. She describes women being raped, and men killed. The memories are so vivid and so traumatic that she breaks down and tells the camera that she cannot continue. The camera pans to Yasin who is herself overcome and crying against the wall. This lacerating moment indicts cruelty...
Finally, the film turns to Charalambos Demosthenous, a flute-maker and priest. He relates how his son was killed during the Turkish invasion. As a memorial to him, Demosthenous planted a palm tree at the edge of the ocean. The film shows Demosthenous performing his paternal duty by watering the tree, and Chrysanthou and Kizilyurek make their own pilgrimage there, buckets of water in hand...