The Pigeon, written and directed by Banu Sivaci - Nine out of 10

The Pigeon, written and directed by Banu Sivaci

Nine out of 10

The Pigeon is a warm, sensitive, excellent, if tragic motion picture, especially enjoyed by this cinephile, who has two macaws…not pigeons, like the hero of this feature, but sweet birds nonetheless.

Kemal Burak Alper is excellent in the leading role of Yusuf – it might be interesting to find if the young man is an amateur, given that the information related to the film does not have a photo of him.

This hero is so poor that he has to steal some water – in a manner of speaking, for this is still within the family and he takes a large jug, after the issue of who pays for the water is raised.

He lives in almost complete destitution and …Absolute Bliss.

For the young man is surrounded by the creatures he loves, who have a space with him, on the roof of a house, where he sleeps and lives in open air, covered with a blanket and in the company of his beloved pigeons.

Yusuf does make some money, although the amount is pitiful and only enough to feed the birds, by taking them to weddings and probably other celebrations or festivities where the presence of especially white birds is appreciated.

Another way is to recuperate pigeons that have flown with his own friends, for which he gets some money, but this is also how he gets in trouble, for at one point, one strange bird has a small packet and the villain who was using it comes with ‘guns blazing’, ready to take revenge.

The hero has a special friend, which seemed to have a name…Guvercin.

Only it looks like this is the Turkish name, and this is a splendid Turkish motion picture, for pigeon…the film is called Guvercin aka the Pigeon.

When the thug comes on the roof to confront Yusuf, the monster takes a knife and injures the poor bird, in an effort to blackmail the young man who has to use his skills after the attack and delicately care for the wound of the bird who has to be sawed and then treated by his owner.

Given the financial straits of the protagonist, there is surely no question of him getting a doctor for Guvercin.

Speaking of money, he is forced at one stage to take a job in an auto repair shop, which seems to have a mountain of spare parts around, which need dusting and cleaning…a job for Sisyphus.

However, for some strange, apparently absurd reason, Yusuf is taken with others in a truck to another place in Turkey, away from the birds and he is dead worried about them and the public together with him.

I mean was quite infuriated!

What will happen to the birds, now that the one who took care, fed them is gone from town?

Furthermore, the special bird is placed in a cardboard box, to recuperate, but with only a few grains of corn:

This will be enough for you until I get back in the afternoon…the hero told the bird, unaware that the boss will pack him off to a distant place and he would not return in the evening.

In fact, when he raises the question, the supervisor or business owner, whatever this fool was, retorts that he should have known about the fact that he would be gone for days, albeit nobody told him.

Besides, the men are used for an apparently stupid operation, for the ten or so who work have to shovel dirt, then use some wheelbarrows, whereas machinery would have been much more efficient.

Even if they were paid misery wages, it looks like renting a Caterpillar or some other equipment for an hour would have finished a job that took many men more than a day to deal with.

Yusuf climbs on a roof and refuses to continue, when he hears that after this slaving job, he would have to move to yet another place and continue, presumably until the birds are dead and gone…

Guvercin is a powerful, moving story of a man who is loyal to his friends and has to suffer from human beings indemnity, humiliation, for no reason at all, in spite of the fact that he is a gentle, caring, dedicated, kind young man.