We know that our trash is taken to some garbage dump on the outskirts of the city, a dump that we will probably never see and thus will never remind us of the fact that we’re harming our earth in innumerable ways.Esteemed Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akın chooses not to overlook trash and its horrible consequences by turning his lens to the Black Sea village of Çamburnu and its unfortunate clash with fate, politics and ecological tragedy.
His “Cennetteki Çöplük” (“Polluting Paradise”) premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and finally reached Turkish theaters last Friday, although it’s not distributed nearly as widely as it should be, since there are only several prints circulating throughout the country.
It all starts in 2007. Seven kilometers from the Black Sea shore, the village of Çamburnu is located close to the mountains, surrounded by a magical forest and blessed with beautiful views. The villagers mostly make their money from their tea fields and live in synchronicity with nature. The confused but well-intentioned mayor of the town rents out a parcel of land adjacent to the village for it to be transformed into a trash dump. The mayor is not a bad man; he is initially convinced that the dump will not be a health hazard, since the managers and engineers of the tip convince him that there will be no smell and that the trash will not pollute the land.
But as the months pass, the mayor’s convictions are proved unfounded, for the massive garbage dump starts turning this heaven into hell. The smell is unbearable and the waste starts to mix with the soil and the riverbed, through which it makes its way into the sea. The drinking water is polluted and, most importantly, the livelihood and lifestyle of the village is altered forever.
When the villagers start protesting peacefully against the waste managers and engineers, their complaints are ignored. The environment minister even comes for a visit. His reply is clear: “Where were we supposed to put the garbage dump, right next to the sea? You’re going to have to live with it, there is no choice.”
The film mainly focuses on the lives of the villagers, whom we get to know rather closely, especially their way of perceiving nature and their obstinacy in giving up the land that has belonged to their families for generations. The saddest part is that even if they never give up the fight, the dump is never improved, and the alternative avenue of relocating it to a safer place is never seriously considered.
Akın really knows how to gets his audience involved by focusing on the village’s amazing characters. It is obvious that he cares for them and respects them deeply, especially the older women of the village, who are portrayed as beacons of wisdom. There is a hint of matriarchy in this village implied to us over the course of the film.
The only problem with the film is that unlike the recent documentary “Ecumenopolis,” “Polluting Paradise” does not completely fulfill the demands of investigative journalism, a style that is surely integrated with its narrative and narration.
“Ecumenopolis” sought out and tried to make contact with all the names, companies, organizations and government bodies that had played a role in creating the new urban atrocity called İstanbul. We got to see the names of the parties throughout the film, and this was organically integrated into the film, giving a voice to the opposition, as in a court.
Akın, however, prefers not to go so deeply into the investigation, and although his film is very political on the human level, it lacks a dimension on the sociological and economic scale.
Nevertheless, “Polluting Paradise” is a documentary not to be overlooked. It achieves its ultimate goal by reminding us that we all play a part in the destruction of nature through our ignorance and by turning our eyes away, but that yes, there are things we can do about it. We might not always succeed, but at least there is still a tiny bit of hope. One must salute the stance of the people of Çamburnu.
‘Cennetteki Çöplük’ (Polluting Paradise)
Directed by: Fatih Akın
Country: Germany
Genre: documentary
(Today’s Zaman)
