Mommo the Bogeyman [Import]

"Mommo" was written and directed by Atalay Tasdiken won several awards last year at film festivals including Best Director and Best Film at the International Children's Film Festival. The story is a drama about two orphan siblings Ahmet and Ayse played by real-life cousins, Mehmet Bülbül and Elif Bülbül who have been left in the care of their crippled grandfather after their widowed father left them for another family. All the two can really count on is each other.

This is a beautifully shot film first of all. The quality and attention to detail really aid the story's tone. The story is set in a small village in Turkey and the children love to take their bed outside on the roof so that they can talk to each other before going to sleep without disturbing their grandfather. It is a hard life without a lot of money and the children have to help out in the household. In one scene, the boy is chopping food and you can see the flies all over the other food he already finished preparing.

The two children are first-time actors and their performances are nothing short of amazing. They have fantastic chemistry helped by actually being family in real life. The character of Ahmet is always struggling with his inner grief for his mother and rage at his father for his behavior in basically denying them. His temper has gotten him into fights and he is often framed by the kid in his father's other family for things he didn't do. He is very protective of his sister and helps her with everything and takes care of raising her, watching her, educating, and feeding her. Ayse has a fear of the bogeyman and Ahmet tries to quiet those fears and assure her that nothing can happen to her and bravely offers to go first. Later in the movie, when he has to go up the stairs alone, it is revealed how much he is secretly just as terrified of them but never shows that to Ayse.

Ayse is the picture of innocence and youth asking questions about the stars and continuing to be excited whenever her father comes around as if he might stay with them this time. She earnestly tells the kids around her when she has news of leaving town and they make fun of her chanting and it is the saddest thing ever. She's the prettiest little girl and the actor playing her brother is very sweet too so seeing all these people around them trying to figure out how to get them off their hands and the two of them not being cared for or nurtured by a parent is heart-breaking. Their aunt offers to take them away to Germany in a letter but it becomes clear that it isn't for family, but for work. Their mother's grave is nearby their temporary home and they talk to her often and plant flowers there.

When their father meets them on the street, he informs Ahmet that he was already working at his age. How can a father betray his own children like that? He clearly has money in his new family and spends it recklessly on luxuries and if reminded he could use that money on the kids who need it, he shrugs it off and pretends he doesn't understand.

It is a beautiful and sad story of love and loyalty and I recommend checking it out if you don't mind subtitles.

DVD Extras:
None.

Few movies make me teary eyed like this one did; in fact the last scene made me an emotional wreck. Cute, heart-warming adorable little Ayse makes my day every time I watch this movie and I've watched it many times so far.

It is not unusual for the abandonment of children to be a major theme in foreign film. Children in foreign film endure a lot of hardships, including abuse and neglect. And in this Turkish heart-felt film, two young children, 9-year old Ahmet and his younger sister Ayse, are abandoned by a father who has a new family. Their mother is dead and they are forced to live with an ailing aging grandfather. Surprisingly, their father runs into them in the village and he is not a young man either. They survive through no other way than to become strong and independent themselves. Ahmet becomes more than an older brother, he is guardian, mother, father, and friend.

Even though the story is based on a real life account, and is tender, sweet and heartfelt, it is very very slow and certainly not for those who expect more from the characters and storyline. What the viewer engages in is a lot of nothing. Sure, we see how loving and sweet a brother relationship can become when hardships strike, but there just isn't enough in the storyline to get this film moving at a somewhat faster pace.

We do get a very full sense and feel of the dynamics the brother and sister relationship is, how sweet the boy cares for his sister as a mother and father would. We learn how their grandfather loves them, but cannot care for them. We understand how despicable a father can be to abandon his children, and yet run into them in the village. But, these scenes are simple, straightforward and can be painfully slow, as you wait for something to happen. And we sympathize with Ahmet and Ayse when they may be forced to leave their village, where they visit the grave of their mother.

Overall, the film is sweet, endearing, but many will find it too slow, with not much happening.....Rizzo