Set at a boarding school deep within Turkey’s Anatolian mountains, Ferit Karahan’s Brother’s Keeper is a sometimes droll, sometimes infuriating look at the bureaucratic ineptitudes of unqualified men in positions of power. But it’s also much more than that. Just under the surface, Karahan subtly tackles such issues as cultural erasure, forced indoctrination, and victim blaming as seen through the eyes of scared students and their self-serving administrators.
When one of the students falls ill, school officials are slow to respond, and eventually act only when they realize their negligence could mean trouble for them. Thus begins a parade of blame-shifting as the staff continually minimize their involvement in why there’s an unconscious boy lying in a sparsely-stocked and unattended infirmary — all while never for a moment giving thought to the systematic nature of their complete incompetence.
What makes this conflict so interesting is the low-key disdain these teachers have for their students (based solely on their ethnicity) and how little regard they have for their well-being. They put on a good show when they find themselves blameworthy, but ultimately, those with power — however microcosmic — jump at the chance to place this blame back onto those with none and learn absolutely nothing in the process. It’s a maddening dynamic that Karahan captures with such an expert eye, one can’t help but wonder if he has first-hand knowledge of a comparable experience.
Brother’s Keeper is having its North American premiere at the 57th CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.
Originally published by ASHEVILLE MOVIES.
James is a writer, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.