Paper Lives Is More than a Tearjerker

I watched this film just a few hours after receiving the news that a close family member of mine most likely has cancer. And while there are still some medical uncertainties surrounding the situation of my family member, I was completely emotionally unprepared for Paper Lives and the pain-filled performance of Çağatay Ulusoy as Mehmet, a sickly and dying man saving for an organ transplant by collecting and selling trash on the streets of Istanbul who becomes a father figure to a young, orphaned boy (Ali, played by Emir Ali Dogrul).

The film begins with a dedication to “All the children who grow up along on the streets,” which, in addition to a being genuine, heartfelt gesture in the Turkish context where “38 percent of children live in extreme poverty,” also indicates the type of emotions it intends to appeal to: despair, pain, fear, surrender. Netflix even categorizes the film as a “tearjerker.”

But Ulusoy’s performance as Mehmet transcends the typical “tearjerker.”

Continue reading at the Boston Hassle.