We hear "God is great" in only one scene in Yilmaz Erdogan's The Butterfly's Dream, where it's a background chant in a crowd scene. That note alerts us to the relative absence of any god or religion in this new film from Turkey. The film is a nostalgic reflection upon a secular humanist Turkey, where freedom, generosity, loyalty and respect for culture still obtained and are by implication lost in a Turkey which has forgotten the two young poets who are chronicled here. The film is narrated by a major modern poet who taught our two young heroes, the historic poets Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu and Rustu Onur. Both are doomed by their romantic love of poetry and TB. But they have an effect, leaving behind a notable body of work and converting the aristocrat's pretty daughter from jock to literature teacher. The boys' teacher's generosity, flexibility and personal dedication make him a far superior authority figure than the girl's brutal father and the looming theocracy. The film has given all three poets a resurgent interest. A post-credit scene shows Rustu's poetry surviving him, as he writes "What is beautiful is that we're alive and one day will die." Director Erdogan not to be confused with the president delivers a historic memoir that implicitly counters the nation's current slide into religious suppression.
Review of The Butterfly's Dream
