22/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: Ayşe Polat's mystery-thriller weaves together numerous themes in a Rashomon-style narrative but wraps up proceedings too tidily for its own good

A mystery-thriller with Rashomon-style storytelling, German-Kurdish filmmaker Ayşe Polat's In the Blind Spot [+see also:
trailer
interview: Ayşe Polat
film profile] sets up an intriguing premise. It tells a story of political repression, paranoia and transgenerational trauma that keeps the viewer guessing, but ties it up too tidily, eventually leaving the audience less than satisfied. The film world-premiered in the Berlinale's Encounters section and should nevertheless enjoy a healthy run at festivals that welcome amalgamations of arthouse sensibility and genre-infused narratives.

A German documentary crew, consisting of director Simone (Katja Bürkle) and cameraman Christian (Max Hemmersdorfer), arrives in an ancient town in north-eastern Turkey to make a film on Hatice, an old Kurdish woman whose son was kidnapped by the secret police 28 years ago. They are assisted by human-rights lawyer Eyüp (Aziz Çapkurt) and translator Leyla (Aybi Era), who takes along a little girl, Melek (Çağla Yurga), her neighbour's daughter whom she is tutoring in English.

This chapter, the first of three, captivates the viewer with the obvious political tension and combination of filming techniques: besides “our” point of view via Toni Erdmann [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Maren Ade
film profile] DoP Patrick Orth, we also look through Christian's camera as he sets up shots, but in addition, we see sinister images that, in a conventional thriller, would represent the killer's perspective. All of this gives the film a found-footage horror vibe, especially when Melek exhibits some sort of psychic insight.

Things quickly escalate as Eyüp goes missing and Leyla informs Simone that Melek's father, Zafer (Ahmet Varlı), is a member of the secret police and wants to grant them an interview in exchange for asylum in Germany. Both the audience and Zafer will wonder if this is too much of a coincidence, and we'll find out the answer in the next chapter. It follows a shocking event that only comes half an hour into the film, but chronologically, this is where the story ends.

Now, we watch the proceedings from Zafer's perspective. We learn that his father had also worked for the same boss, and while Zafer is watching the Germans and Leyla, he is being watched, too: someone is sending him videos of his family. Here, the film veers off into paranoid-thriller territory, Varlı playing it with intensity that is at times over the top, additionally electrified by Melek scaring him and her mother with stories of an imaginary friend who seems to know way too much.

In the final chapter, told from an “objective” point of view, most of the mystery gets wrapped up, which in essence defeats its purpose. The film combines its key cinematography with smartphone videos and hidden-camera footage, which makes it feel expansive and rich on the surface, but the overly tidy editing by Serhad Mutlu and Jörg Volkmar makes the film's structure too obvious, stripping it of movie magic.

On the other hand, the city where the story takes place is an excellent setting that combines magnificent ancient ruins with dark, narrow alleyways and abandoned construction sites. As such, it is an ideal background both for the mystery and for the overarching theme of transgenerational trauma that is elaborated through two aspects: Hatice's story of the repression of Kurds and Zafer's violent profession (and boss) that he inherited from his dad. It is always the innocent who suffer its destructive psychological consequences, and in this case, Melek will continue to carry this burden.

In the Blind Spot was produced by Germany's Mitosfilm, and ArtHood Entertainment has the international rights.