This movie warms my soul, though it has the many shortcomings possessed by romantic comedies. The screenplay is based on the stories of several characters, all linked to each other in some way, and each story tells about different aspects of love. The film begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out during a week-by-week countdown until the holiday, with an epilogue that takes place one month later.The soundtrack is very nice, too, and it opens with the Christmas variation of classic hit "Love Is All Around." This song makes me happy, but this year I will try to sing my own variation, which will be "Apologizing Is All Around" -- and for this version, it does not matter how awful my voice is, it will make me even happier.
Whatever others may say, I think 2008 was a remarkable year because one of the very important deficits in our dominant political culture began to be defeated, and this is why 2008 deserves a special blessing.
In our dominant political culture, even in the dominant daily culture, to "apologize" has a very limited place. For us, it is always very difficult to accept our faults; it is more difficult to articulate it even if we are sad because of them. For example, I don't know if you've noticed, but even in a small traffic accident, the obviously wrong party does not apologize but tries instead to pretend that s/he is innocent. This habit is also reflected in our political culture. I can't even recall a single political leader who was able to say "I am sorry."
The wave of apologies began with Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin when he conveyed the apology for the murder of Engin Çeber, who reportedly died after being beaten by security forces. Maybe it was not good enough, but nonetheless it was a very important step because it showed us that the state can apologize.
Then came the "apologizing campaign" of the intellectuals for the "Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915." Well, perhaps some reactions to it were at the level of racism, but the important thing is that apologizing is starting to be a part of our sovereign political culture.
Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Canan Arıtman, while criticizing the president's silence regarding the apology campaign, called for an investigation into the ancestry of Gül's mother in a statement, implying that she was of Armenian origin. She has not apologized for it yet; on the other hand, she is not worth taking seriously. Another CHP deputy, Şükrü Elekdağ, who strongly opposes the apology campaign, did apologize to Gül's mother, and it was definitely something.
(But perhaps I should apologize here because I am a woman who tries to advocate for the involvement of women in politics as much as I can. I definitely do not mean the male chauvinist, racist, fascist women like Arıtman.)
The apology campaign may have created many reactions, but on the other hand, as German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer said: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
Then, all of a sudden, another apology came, this time from Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay. He told Alevis that in the past there had been provocations against Alevis and that he was apologizing for this because he is a representative of the state. Alevis did not accept the apology -- of course, those who have been given an apology have the right to refuse it -- but still, it is something.
Then, suddenly, just like in "Love Actually," just a couple of weeks before New Year's, we started hearing apologies coming from everywhere. At the beginning of the movie, David, the British prime minister (played by Hugh Grant), says the words one by one before the story telling starts: "Actually-love-is-all around."
So with great pleasure and hope, I want to say, "Actually-apologizing-is-all around."
Happy New Year's.
