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SOLOTHURN 2020

Review: Arada

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- The first feature film by Swiss director Jonas Schaffter follows a group of disorientated men forced to reconstruct their identity in a foreign land

Review: Arada

In his 2015 short film Offside Istanbul, young director Jonas Schaffter had already decided to take on Turkish reality, exposing the decidedly non-glittery daily life of a group of African footballers who had arrived in Istanbul, their heads full of dreams. Real life, however, turns out to be a far cry from the Turkey of their dreams, and despite their bomb-proof positivity, the land becomes something of a living hell for them. For his first feature film, Arada [+see also:
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, battling it out for the Solothurn Film Festival’s Prix de Soleure, Jonas Schaffter journeys once again to the heart of Turkey, though this time in the company of three men whose origins are a dark and distant memory to them.

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Arada’s three protagonists are, in fact, of Turkish origin, but they have lived their entire lives (the joyous parts along with the more problematic moments) in Switzerland. In spite of this, they’ve never been accorded (or have never requested) a Swiss passport, and, after committing some serious offences, they’re forced to return to Turkey, the land of their childhood or of their parents. The director follows them in their most private moments; he accompanies them during their painful imprisonment as they cling to a crumbling identity now in need of total reconstruction.

Arada sees Schaffter filming the humanity that hides behind three destinies which are different, yet fundamentally alike; he follows the existential doubts experienced by these three men, who know they have lost the opportunity of a lifetime. What makes the young Swiss director’s documentary particularly interesting isn’t just the fact that he tackles the delicate subject of forced expulsions, but also - and most importantly - his exploration of male identity. For Arada’s three protagonists haven’t only lost their “Swiss identity”, forced to return to a country which they perceive to be foreign; they’ve also lost their “male identity” as they’ve always understood it. Left to fend for themselves (their partners, wives or mothers remaining in Switzerland), these three men must swiftly come to terms with who they are, and with their fragility and solitude, a “weakness” which runs contrary to their view of virile masculinity. Their roles as fathers, husbands or sons are brutally erased, forcing them to live within an unknown reality.

As one of the protagonists admits, marriage provided him with a substitute carer after his mother gently turfed him out of the house. Returning to Turkey has forced him to acknowledge the loss he feels in terms of the privileges he enjoyed as a Swiss citizen, but also, first and foremost, as a man. How do they go about rebuilding their identities having been expelled from a country they call home? And what meaning does the word “identity” carry in a country – such as Turkey – which they hardly known anything about? Notwithstanding a superfluous final phrase - or at least an overly simplistic phrase on the matter of forced expulsions - Jonas Schaffter successfully avoids the trap of rose-tinted portrayals, showing the positive but also the shadier sides of his three protagonists. Little focus is placed on the crimes these men have committed (they’re briefly mentioned in the film without becoming a central theme in the story); what counts here is the (forced) rediscovery of their fragility, and the expression of an inner world which, if it had been listened to more carefully in the first place, might have helped Arada’s protagonists live their lives more correctly.

Arada is produced by Basel-based group Soap Factoy GmbH, alongside Künste ZHdK Departement Darstellende Künste und Film (both of whom are also managing international sales), SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen and SRG SSR.

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(Translated from Italian)

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