My Review of 'Kara Bela'

First of all, how did I find out about this movie? Well, this past summer, I was in Turkey, and one of the airlines we took was Turkish Airlines. There weren't any western movies playing on that plane, but they did have a lot of Turkish films. I was in Turkey, why not check out a Turkish film? So I picked the wackiest looking cover art that was available and that so happened to be Kara Bela.

The problem was that the movie was two hours long and I was on the plane for only an hour. I only got to see half of the movie and the worst part was that I wanted to see how it ended. Fast forward a few weeks, and I'm in North America trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to watch the end of this movie.

Luckily for me, I have Turkish friend,s and they told me that the movie was actually available on Netflix. I was so relieved because I needed to know what happened at the end.

So Kara Bela is about this character named Kudret. If there was ever a Charlie Brown character, then Kudret would be the live action version. He's lived all his life for his family. He joined the army at a young age, served his time, married, and had kids. The problem for him is that nobody cares for him.

The movie starts off with his whole family disappearing on him. His ungrateful father and wife both pass away and his children are taken from him.

All he has is debt and his precious car, which he named Midnight Minx. He has this crazy dream where he meets his mother and she tells him that there's a beautiful woman waiting for him in a far off city in Turkey. He promises to rescue this woman and goes on a cross country pursuit to find the woman.

Along the way, he encounters a few characters that tag along his road trip. There's Guven, a thief with a heart of gold, Burcu, a lounge singer escaping the mob, and Efkan, a suicidal stranger. They all go along with Kudret on his adventure because they're all being chased by pretty much everyone. There's multiple police chasing after them, along with organized criminals.

This movie is absolutely insane and as such, it's a delight. I didn't think I'd see something so silly from a Turkish movie. This is the type of crazy laughs I was looking for.

Is this a masterpiece movie? No, I wouldn't go that far, but it was very enjoyable, even with me reading subtitles. I got the humour even though I didn't think I would. I thought there would be a Turkish element that I wouldn't understand, but I got it. It was zany wacky slapstick humour that we don't quite see anymore.

It was almost like watching a real life cartoon happening in live action. Much of like how Stephen Chow does his Chinese movies. There's songs that come out of nowhere and crazy escapes that don't even make sense.

I loved it because all of the characters had so much charm and it felt very innocent. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Overall, I would say that even if you don't understand Turkish or Turkish culture, you'll still have fun watching this movie. It's worth checking out for a bit of fun. I'll have to give this movie a 7.5 out of 10. A very fun ride and I know it made my plane ride go way faster than it felt.

Watching it on Netflix will allow you to see the movie in high definition. There's no crazy, good effects that make it worth watching in high definition, but it's always nice to have.