User Reviews

Uzak Ihtimal (literally "long shot" or rather "remote possibility") is one of those simple and pure stories of love that have never been professed. Musa (Nadir Saribacak)is a muezzin who has been newly-assigned to a mosque in Galata,Istanbul. Clara (Görkem Yeltan),who happens to be living next door,is a Christian woman doing some voluntary work in a church near the mosque.Yakup(Ersan Uysal),who later turns out to be the biological father of Clara,has a used bookstore where he tries to deals with rare books on demand. Musa helps him when he is not working in the mosque. The more often Musa meets Clara the more affection and even love he starts to have for Clara.Clara, the reserved and reticent girl does not seem to show any open feelings for him though the viewers actually notice there is something in there. For a debut,Uzak İhtimal is a great achievement. Mahmut Fazil Coskun gives a purely humanitarian message by juxtaposing the pent-up emotions of a Muslim man and a Christian woman,especially in a world where we need more dialog between religions. But you need more than that to create a whole different movie. The script of the movie reminded me of the stereotypical Turkish movies of 70s.Back then, they always used to use this context where a father was trying to find his kid. When the used bookstore owner turned out to be the father of Clara I felt like the whole movie lost its spontaneity,originality and even its individuality.Moreover,I think the acting could have been better on the muezzin's part. Movies like this in which you treat "a religion" or a religious symbol like a mosque or church are a good chance to mobilize or shift public opinion. It's like canvassing the whole public opinion. As a Muslim,I would say Nadir Saribacak can't really fit the role of a muezzin. His voice is not mellifluous enough, the way he recites the Koranic chapters or supplications does not really sound awe-inspiring and the tone is so matter-of-fact. All I am saying Istanbul is at the heart of Islam and Islam should not sounded so local. With a better acting and a more original screenplay this could have been a perfect movie but it's still worth your time as a debut.