Orhan (Serdar Gökhan) is a mild-mannered architect who is sickened by
the reports about the violence on Istanbul's streets, but at first he
thinks that doesn't directly concern him ... until his wife and his sister
are attacked by a trio of dopeheads/muggers/rapists - and in his own home
no less - who brutally kill his wife and rape his sister so violently she
becomes a mental case ... and she will eventually kill herself, too. From
this point on, Orhan swears to have his own private revenge, not
necessarily on the thugs who killed his wife, whom the police is unable to
track down, but on every criminal element in town. And from now on, Orhan
roams the streets every night armed with a gun as a one man killing
machine, getting himself into tight situations with criminals on purpose -
just to mercilessly gun them down by the dozen. Witnesses to his slayings
usually refuse to testify against him though, because they believe he's
doing the right thing ... Eventually, the police manages to identify
Orhan as the killer nevertheless, but by that time, Orhan has already
found out the identity of the three killers of his wife from a whore, and
he stays ahead of the police long enough to kill the three thugs in
especially violent ways - then he gives himself up ... One
thing up front: Cellat was most certainly more than a little inspired
by Michael Winner's Death Wish from 1974 - one might even go so far
as to call Cellat an outright remake -, but still, compared to
Winner's film, the Turkish movie has its merits: While Death Wish
was essentially a big budget Hollywood production which was rather cold if
not to say clinical in its approach to the subject matter, Cellat's
low-budget origin makes it more down-to-earth and more direct. Of course,
as a pro-vendetta message movie, Cellat, just like Death Wish,
might seem more than a little questionable, but watching the movie for its
narrative rather than its message, it is good entertainment, simply put a
cheaply made but violent fun action thriller. Recommended!
After having spent an eternity virtually unknown to movie-lovers in the
West, this film has been
made available to the film-loving public (in a limited edition) by the
good folks from
Onar Films
.
Besides the movie with English or Greek subtitles and the obligatory
biographies, filmographies, photo gallery and trailers, their DVD also includes biographies
and filmographies and a documentary on Turkish Vendetta Movies.
To put it short: This DVD's a must-have!
[Click
here to buy it directly from Onar Films]
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