Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A Step into the Darkness - film

A Step into the Darkness was just one of the many films I picked up in the discount bin at Rogers so I could have something to watch while I ate dinner on my sailboat I'm not connected to cable or satellite for television shows and movies.
It's a film by Atil Inac.  If I'd seen the trailer I might have thought it was something I'd like to watch on the History or  Discovery channel. The filming of the countryside of Iraq and Turkey is worthy of National Geographic.
The cover shows an outstanding single woman carrying a bundle, looking perplexed in the dessert. I might have thought it a feminist pity pot movie with that overplayed communist twist of the plight of the underdog.  I might  even have thought it was a Disney creation where the little train that can does.  There's that kind of promotion in the thing.
But the movie wasn't any of these.  It was something far more.  It opened my eyes to the war by those who have no 'sides', the real casualties of conflict.  This really is about 'collateral damage' and the human spirit.
It moved me in a way few movies can.  It was that different and that deeply sensitive with enough action and intrigue to keep the plot ahead of the tears.
Subtitles and English.  It was billed as "A unique film shot on location inside Iraq in the midst of an ongoing war".
Suzan Genc, the star, won the best actress award at the Ankara International Film Festival.  The movie itself won several international Best Pictures.  But what do critics know.  I found it in the discount bin and watched it with rapt attention through all the drama, character unfolding and excitement to the extraordinary unpredictableending.
I'm telling you it's good.  It's really good.

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