The Stranger
Yabanci
dir. Filiz Alpgezmen
Turkey, 2011 - 95
In 1980, following the revolutionary struggle, Özgür's parents fled Turkey and settled in France. Born and raised in Paris, she has never visited Turkey. Now in her thirties, she is a woman without any sense of belonging to either France or Turkey, or to any kind of family or ideology. She is a "stranger" to love, to family, to friendship, to belonging, even if it is just to herself. The story begins with the death of Özgür's father in Paris. She does not react to his death in any "appropriate" way. However, the emotional impact of the time she spends at his house changes her mind. She decides to bury him in Istanbul to fulfil his last wish.
A film about having no sense of belonging and how being rootless creates alienation. Özgür is a stranger not only to her country, but to the whole world.
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