TAŞKAFA: STORIES OF THE STREET. (2013) THE 1ST OF TWO FILMS BY ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN. FEATURING TEXT AND READINGS BY THE LATE POET AND NOVELIST JOHN BERGER. REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
'All dogs dream of forests, whether they've ever been to one or not.'
This is a documentary about, of all things, the street dogs of Istanbul in Turkey. It's such a random subject to make a movie about and yet the film-maker thought strongly enough about it to do it, and extremely interesting and thought-provoking it is too.
Taşkafa is the lead dog, but he seems to only feature in it briefly. There are, like, a million dogs, cats and even sea-birds featured in the film, as well as a whole bunch of willing locals who were happy to sit around and chat about their views regarding the homeless dogs that throng the streets and squares of Istanbul.
Aren't they dangerous, was my first thought? Not really, apparently, unless you're a stranger to them, in which case watch out. You'll need to be formally introduced to Taşkafa, the head honcho of the canines, I mean like, take his paw and say howdy-do and everything. Only then, once you've done that, can you move about the streets freely without being in fear of your life.
One of the local women tells what she describes as a 'funny story' about an elderly man who 'fell off a wall and died' during an incident concerning the street dogs. I guess I just didn't see the joke in that instance. Or maybe we just have different ideas about what the word 'funny' means.
I also wasn't too keen on the German guy who comments that the sight of stray dogs around the place puts off the rich people, ie, tourists who might be visiting the area, in much the same way that seeing disabled children or just disabled people in general would be off-putting. There's a lot I could say right now that I'm not gonna say. I ain't touching that one...
I liked the guy who tells us that Taşkafa never does his business in his own street, but goes to another area to poop. The one time he saw the dog pooping, Taşkafa actually looked horribly embarrassed to be caught with his metaphorical pants down. That was so sweet. As Tony Soprano once said to a fellow Mafioso: 'You don't shit where ya eat. And ya especially don't shit where I eat...' Exactly, Tone!
Some people envy the street dogs, who don't wear collars and are not caught up in the system or the rat-race but who can wander about freely all day long, sleeping whenever and wherever they want, eating like kings thanks to the encouragingly high numbers of locals who care about them and treat them kindly.
I especially liked the guy who risked angering his wife to the point of divorce to bring one of these street dogs home to care for it. Eventually they reached a compromise and the dog was allowed to live on their balcony, but there's no doubt in my mind that the guy would have chosen the dog over his wife, and I don't mean that in a bad way. This guy lives for animals.
I wish I could remember his name, he has long hair and he feels so passionately about animals that it's wonderful to see. He 'demands respect for the lives of all animals' and he apparently practises what he preaches as well. He deserves a medal, this guy. He's like a sort of modern-day Saint Francis of Assisi or something.
By contrast, there's a monument featured in the film to a shocking act of what one guy refers to as 'genocide' against the street doggies. Back in 1910, the Union & Progress Party exiled tens of thousands of the dogs to a nearby island that became known as the 'wicked island' because the poor creatures were left to die there of hunger and thirst, a fate that would cause uproar in society if it were to happen to human beings. I'd hope so, at least.
Over a century later, the Animal Party erected a headstone to commemorate these poor
dogs in the hope that people would remember what happened and ensure that it never happens again. Certainly, most of the locals in the film seem to have only genuine intentions towards these motherless mutts and they'd expect most other decent people to feel the same.
There are lots of other random little doggie/cat-tales in the film too, like the one about the cat who gave birth to four kittens in some woman's washing-machine and the dog who sadly died, after having survived perfectly happily for ten whole years, on the night his owner was taken ill and hospitalised. Shelters are like prisons, apparently, and doggies don't generally thrive there.
There's a nice little anecdote too about the writer Mark Twain (TOM SAWYER, THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN) visiting the area there back in the nineteenth century. A flock of sheep were being driven across this particular square or whatever, and the square was full of street dogs lolling about the place kipping or just taking it easy. Instead of going mental, the passive doggies stayed where they were and let the woolly sheep just walk through them, over them and around them. That must've been quite something to see...
In an area where you'll see Louis Vuitton and Godiva shops and billboard ads for Rolex watches, the sight of the street dogs roaming around the place seems incongruous. But as one nice sensible woman in the film puts it, we've all got to share the space we've been given. The dogs are just as entitled to be there as we humans are, as this lady sees the situation.
The only instance in which their presence would be a problem would be if a dog was vicious or had rabies or something, but there's no evidence of that type of thing in this remarkable film. All the dogs featured in it seem exceptionally laid-back and tame, almost domesticated.
They like being fed, petted, tickled and generally made a fuss of. Just like us humans, haha. Speaking for myself, I know that if I don't get to lie on my back with my legs in the air to have my tummy tickled at least once or twice a day, I'm like a demon for the rest of the day...
This marvellous documentary is the work of award-winning lady film-maker Andrea Luka Zimmerman, whom (because of the name) I was convinced was a man until I saw her being interviewed after the film in an extra feature.
More details from:
www.secondrundvd. com
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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