Cellat
R0 PAL
Onar Films
Cellat
(The Executioner) is a very rare 1975 vigilante film from Turkey. It is
available in a very limited edition of 500 numbered copies from Onar films and
is certainly a superb example of an unusual Turkish genre film. This was the only surviving print in
reasonable condition and Onar has done a good job making it available. Also
included is a superb 30 minute documentary on Turkish Revenge films from the earliest
titles right through to recent releases as well as other extras.
I
have always enjoyed vigilante films, I found Robert Ginty in The Exterminator a
real treat. In Australia it was The Exterminator series which triggered the
“Video Nasties” censorship row and as a
result the first Exterminator film was banned and then only released very
heavily cut with Exterminator Two being heavily cut to avoid being banned as
well. Death Wish was in the same format, traumatized parent or partner pushed
too far and when the law fails, he must step in.
Cellat:
The Executioner follows in a similar vein. A peaceful architect, his wife and
his sister and partner spend a lovely holiday together, filled with quaint
conversations, lots of laughs, bush walks and romantic music. However, when
they return to Istanbul things are not the same; the newspapers are filled with
reports of rapes, robberies and murders. At first we see three doped up street
punks as they wander the street stealing a cabbage from an old lady and fruit
from a vendor and they don’t seem too dangerous. That is until they follow the
architects wife and sister home and launch a home invasion, attacking and
raping both the women. One dies from her wounds, the other becomes mentally
unstable. The attack is brutal and authentically portrayed.
When
the police seem unable to solve the crime Orhan decides to take matters into
his own hands. He begins by going to the bank (!) and getting lots of coins
which he loads into a sock and uses it to take revenge on his first victims.
However, while surveying a location for a hotel, he takes some pistol lessons
and is reminded that "A gun is a man's ornament” and so decides it is the
better instrument of his revenge. At first he is torn as his father was killed
in a hunting accident and he has avoided guns ever since but a vigilante has to
do what he has to do ! After his first kill he is violently ill and returns to
lay a rose on his wife’s grave telling her he must keep killing to avenge her
death.
He
now begins a rampage of shooting, finally tracking down the three thugs who
attacked his wife and sister, they are despatched in a more picturesque fashion
including an electrocution and in a fire !
This
is actually a rather impressive film which adapts the revenge/vigilante motif
popular at the time in the West to Turkish Cinema. The dialogue is overdone
with constant references to love, justice and devotion with the rising strings
of romantic music in the background and this gives it a beautifully
exploitation cinema feel. The villains are, of course, two dimensional and the
revenge is bloody – what would one expect ? The cinematography is rather nice
and the crumbling streets of Istanbul look great.
Yes,
this is a rare film and the only surviving print so the picture is a bit “soft”
but it is more than watchable and a must have in any exploitation cinema lovers
library !
This review will appear in Volume 2:1
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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