MY MARLON & BRANDO

Directed By Hüseyin Karabey

Review By Shane Morton

Every now & then a film comes along that you feel blessed to see. My Marlon & Brando is one of those films.  From the beginning of the film you understand that you are watching something special & different; something that would probably not be made in the US, because the story is not in our experience. It is the experience of someone else & it is a riveting tale.

Director Hüseyin Karabey creates a film that is based on true events. The majority of this film is exactly how it happened in real life. In fact there is a “real” footage used along with the narrative making this film a true docu-drama.

A Turkish actress (Ayça Damgaci) & an Iraqi actor (Hama Ali Khan) meet making a movie & fall in love. He speaks Kurdish & she speaks Turkish. Their only common language is English. At the end of the job they make plans for him to move to Turkey to be with her. But first he must of course go home. Then before his plans are finalized the Iraqi war begins. Circumstances keep them apart, but they correspond through video letters (a common practice in some countries). These real letters are peppered throughout the film & give the narrative strong roots.

Ayça makes a decision to start a journey that could bring them back together again. She will have to travel alone into those foreign lands & she will see her love again.

The two leads play themselves, but the story belongs to Ayça. It is her journey, her hardships, fears & life. She gives a powerful performance & shows a real strength in being able to relive this journey.

Director Hüseyin Karabey captures powerful performances & creates a truly moving film that inspires. I hope that this film receives a chance to be released here. I can’t imagine that it won’t be. The film took top awards at Tribeca & Ayça Damgaci also won the Turkish best actress Oscar equivalent for this film.