Selman Nacar showcases brilliant and constructive criticism towards capitalism in Turkey. Led by a visceral performance by Tülin Özen, Nacar’s Hesitation Wound reveals the inner wounds and deception of an abusive regime.
Continuing his moral tales regarding capitalism, power, and family, Selman Nacar made a strong debut, Between Two Dawns, in 2021 where he showed the moral failures involving an injured worker at a family’s business. Here in 2023, he explores morality further with his latest, a Venice entry in the Orizzonti competition with Hesitation Wound (Tereddüt çİzgİsİ). Following Canan (Tülin Özen), the defense attorney for a murder case, is leading a case involving murder while dealing with her own mother in a coma. Balancing the two stressful situations, this story not only provides a moralist tale on honesty and corruptness, Özen is able to hone out the multitudes of emotions and strides through a ruthless trial of events with a powerhouse performance. Nacar demonstrates a tightly knit plot that expands and builds exponentially as the film goes on, thanks to his screenplay, allowing both to reveal the abusive power and greed held in the city of Uşak of Turkey.
Musa is currently on trial for being the prime suspect on murdering Yakup, a rich businessman in charge of a textures and clothing factory. Canan is his attorney and strives to be the saving grace for him and the city that she truly disdains. She is the primary actor/woman holding the law and honesty as part of her work ethic. With these details alone, it is presumed that Nacar’s focus is on the city’s viewpoint on gender inequality and capitalism. The only other women involved in the film are the typical housewife and worker in the family at the bottom of the societal hierarchy. This includes Canan’s family, where her sister is mainly visiting their mother while Canan is buried in the investigation. The males play the working class and the officials with condescending tones, supporting the stereotype and moment. The primary suspect is Musa, a former worker who was fired for unjust reasons and Cetin, the son of the deceased, who mysteriously disappeared after the death, using his graduate studies abroad as his alibi.
Canan begins to maneuver as the outsider of the case. She received her law degree in the United Kingdom and has been away from Uşak due to her disdain for it. This alone placates her as an outsider, discriminately viewed from the native’s perspective. The film starts to become an investigation leading up to the sentence of the case where the camera works well with the form; constantly dynamic following Canan during her investigation. Canan sees the city for what it is and with knowing that she enters a world of despicable behavior where in order to get what you want, you have the play their game.
As Canan’s investigation gets further, she discovers the obvious corruptness and layers to this case which reinforces the metaphor of the case the current state of the country. It delves into the center point where Canan is revealed to allow the city to absorb her, but for her to use their ammo against them in the most fully satisfying way. Whether Selman uses this film as a critique for the Turkish government or the progressive movement towards gender equality, it’s sharp and rabbit hole of a story that allows Canan to explore the different faucets of authority while interjecting her personal life drawing parallels with one’s personal history to their birthplace. This includes prolonging the inevitable such as her mother’s coma in comparison with the case being held up due to Canan’s smoking gun witness who doesn’t want to participate due to severity of the truth in the decedent’s actual outcome.
The outcome of the film truly highlights the progressive nature of Canan’s character. Whether it be a moral or immoral decision doesn’t matter, because in these unfair systems, the truth is something that is buried by the wealthy and powerful. In a brilliant turn of events, Canan pulls out her own smoking gun and uses it against the people needed to for a fair and just trial. Building and exploring more complexity in the Turkish society, Nacan presents a hard-hitting closure that coincides with progressive elements with Canan being the forefront representative of women and opposition towards the leaders supposedly in charge.
