‘Black Dogs Barking’: a promising debut by co-directors Er and Gorbach

The one thing most prominent about the film is its fluid rawness and gusto which welcomingly takes hold of the entire rhythm -- the dynamic over-the-shoulder camera work and editing works in favor of the adrenaline-driven story. On the outskirts of İstanbul, in a world pumped by machismo and dog-eat-dog conditions, we meet two young protagonists, Selim (Cemal Toktaş) and Çaça (Volga Sorgu), friends since childhood, now two extremely ambitious youths trying to climb the social ladder.

It doesn’t make it easier that every night these two unemployed lads stare in envy and admiration at the gigantic business towers right beyond the skirts of their neighborhood. Life is sometimes sweet when Selim and Çaça roam around restlessly in Çaça’s pimped-out car duly named “My Orange Angel” and when Selim visits his fiancée, the frail kindergarten teacher Ayşe (Ayfer Dönmez).

When the two buddies hear that there’s a bid for management of the parking lot near the local shopping mall, they jump at the opportunity, thinking that they will be backed by the local mafia boss. Sure enough, the shopping mall’s own security contractor, the iffy Reis (Taylan Ertuğrul), is also after the same parking lot, and surely he’s not going to let these two young guns take over his turf. It doesn’t help that the cops are also tailing the boys to gather evidence against the local mafia’s now “legalized” activities.

Will these two boys be able to make a better life for themselves amongst the claws of the chaotic underground world or will they be smashed like ants?

“Black Dogs Barking,” besides its much too familiar storyline, offers an authentic glimpse into a very significant segment of Turkish society, that of the many unemployed young men who are, by right or wrong, trying to make a better life for themselves. Perhaps most of their kin are frowned upon for their overbearing energy and tendency toward simple thinking, yet the existence of such young men is an undeniable reality in the cities and provinces. It is the moments that we see Selim and Çaça riding around aimlessly in the city and hanging out with their friends in parks that are the most intriguing parts of the film. Er and Gorbach expose us to the ins and outs of these characters who we see every day and who have no substantial certainties in their lives except for their mandatory military service. For when we watch the sequence where the boys bid farewell to a friend of theirs going to the army with a celebration, we understand clearly that this is one of those rare moments of unequivocal verification in which that their “manhood” is proven. When there are no jobs and no money, the military certainly transforms into the most prominent manifestation of male achievement.

This specific “male achievement” is the strongest motivation behind Selim and Çaça’s aspirations of running the parking lot, for then they will become “real men.” But everything comes at a cost, and in this heavily patriarchal environment, it turns into a territorial war between men who, I dare say, carry the animalistic instincts of dogs. Compassion and emotional attachment only become weakness and vulnerability in this environment; thus when we see Selim with his fiancée, we know that the looming threat of random evil can happen at anytime.

The performances of leads Toktaş and Sorgu are near perfect, supplemented with an engaging chemistry drawing in the viewer at the best and worst of times. Sorgu deservedly grabbed the Golden Orange for Best Supporting Actor at the Antalya film festival in October 2009.