KACIS in 10 POINTS
My first impressions after four episodes
1) SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter is heavy. This is not yet another "dizi" in which the only thing we worry about is when the characters will kiss, when and if she is going to forgive him, and what other intrigues and problems the heroes will encounter on the way, etc., etc. Here we can see the fight for life, for survival, a true-life story. Of course, this is a fictional story, but based on facts. We know and have known well what Islamic fighters do (training children to be suicide bombers, human trafficking, their treatment of women, murdering journalists, etc.). Now we have also learnt about the Yazidi massacre. I say “now”, as I am not sure how many of us had known about it before. At least I hadn’t and started reading about them only when I got to know the summary of the series.
I admit that this topic is not really my cup of tea and I am not sure if I would have watched the series if it hadn’t been for Engin ... But I do not regret starting watching it! This story probably will not leave anyone indifferent. As Engin himself said, he and the others also changed after shooting it and they began to look at the world from a different perspective.
By the way, I'm really curious what influenced Engin to write this story; he wrote it in 2017, as he said - 3 years after the Yazidi slaughter, but we know that many Yazidi were killed later too, among others, in Turkish air raids in the region … Was it what Engin read, written by the war correspondents - Cetin Cetiner and Ian Birren including? The stories of the Yazidi women Nadia Murad and Lamiya Haji Bashar?
2) ACTION
Although I started watching the series because of Engin, I have to admit that I got hooked and I am waiting impatiently and with growing curiosity for each subsequent episode. The action is fast-paced and full of suspense. In the fourth episode, I was sitting at the edge of my seat, almost biting my nails, in fear of what would happen next ... Even though I knew that everything must end well - when it comes to Mehmet, of course, because as for the fate of the other characters, I was not sure: one of his travel companions did not manage to play too much - he died in the middle of the first episode. The other two died two episodes later. I still have a flicker of hope for Ilker, but for the time being it looks as if he too died. There is still Zeynep who is alive. Will she be saved? That is the question
3) A HERO OTHER THAN USUAL?
When we heard that Engin would play in the new series, we learnt that he would play a completely different character; a role in which we hadn't seen him yet. We all probably wondered what this role would be, because for us, Engin is different in each role - his Mustafa, or Kerim, Omer, or Sancar are completely different people. If they have something in common, it is great love for a woman and a sense of guilt towards her. Is his Mehmet really completely different? I noticed he has one thing in common with the above-mentioned heroes, especially after Episode 3, namely, that he also has a sense of guilt, but not towards the woman, but towards his work and travel companion, Ilker. So far, the topic of love for a woman has not appeared at all. Mehmet is not a romantic hero that Engin has got us used to, although here it is the second project of this type after "Yolun Acik Olsun". As for me, the main novelty is the situation the hero finds himself in, the dilemmas he has to face, and the fact that he has to play someone he is not.
Until now, Engin's heroes, such as Daghan or Sancar, could even have several images, but they were still themselves; they changed appearance, but they did not change their identity. The change of image usually aimed at emphasizing the passage of time - Daghan before and after the prison sentence, a young Sancar and Sancar 9 years later ... And here, in Kacis, Mehmet became Rahman in a few days. He has partly kept his profession as a photojournalist, but at the same time he has to pretend to be a member of the organization, and in addition a spy, an organizer of terrorist actions with the nickname "Cook". I wonder if his cooking skills will be put to the test and how will he handle it? [Will we see him frying eggs?]
4) IMAGE
As was the case in recent projects, here too, Engin does not have only one image, but two: with longer hair and a shorter beard, and with shorter hair and a longer beard (I wonder if Ebu Zalim will recognise him as a journalist from the passport photo ). What's more, even as far as garments are concerned, it looks like we'll see only two ... One - a jacket in which we see him as Mehmet's, the photojournalist, and the other - a "fighter" outfit.
Forget the sexy "buttons" ... Not to mention that this is not the time of the year ...
Fortunately, the hero's hygiene was taken into account. And let's hope they won’t forget about it in the following episodes. 😉
5) IT’S ENGIN SERIES
It is Engin series not only because it was written according to his story and because he plays the main role in it ... Actually saying that he plays the main role is an understatement. After the first episode, I had the impression that he was the only hero of the story; I probably won’t exaggerate if I say that we practically saw him in 90% of the screen time. The other actors were just the background. Well, Engin himself said that he meant to show the hero's confrontation with his own conscience, so it's no wonder that Mehmet plays the first fiddle. But, I will say again, that's not only why I would describe this series, especially the first episode, as Engin series. For there is something else! We have the opportunity to admire what Engin does best - when he plays even without words. There was not much dialogue in the first episode. But we could see what Mehmet was going through. And in the third episode, we could again admire his ability to show emotions without saying anything - especially in the scene when he watched the movie with Ilker. First, the joy to see him alive, which turns into terror and despair when he sees the fate of his companion.
6) MAIN CHARACTERS
We have heard that in the series star Engin and Irem Helvacioglu, and yes, she is second in the cast list. She also appears in every episode, but despite the tragic and important role she plays, showing the treatment of women in that region, somehow she did not impress me much. She played correctly what she was supposed to play and that's it. The "female doctor" caught my attention more, but the female role that really made an impression on me was, let’s call her, "Fadil's Gift", as her name we have not yet officially learnt [according to the cast list she is to be called Nevi]. Her silent performance in the fourth episode said more about the situation of women than what we saw in Zeynep. But anyway, for me, the main character, apart from Engin, is Aras Aydin [although he is only fifth in the cast list]. His Fadil, although not a very "nice" man, to put it mildly, will surely be remembered by us! His laughter: gh gh gh gh … as well.
7) SYMBOLS AND ASSOCIATIONS
I had several associations with other projects, including two of Engin characters. Mehmet looking at the organization's ID reminded me a bit of Omer with his scrutinizing gaze. And in the third episode, in the scene with the lighter, one couldn’t but picture Omer. Mehmet with pickaxe In the first episode reminded me of Kerem from "Cocuklar Sana Emanet" [we also remember Kerem with a camera in his hand]. There were also associations with the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks. The scene with the doll immediately reminded me of Wilson, the ball - the companion of the survivor from the movie, long before I realized that Engin referred to the doll as "Wilson" [if it hadn’t been for the subtitles, I probably would not have heard him say so ...] - You're Wilson, right? No, Wilson doesn't fit.
So, as it turned out, Engin and / or the screenwriter Ali Dogancay specifically referred to this movie. We could see more resemblances in fact: an attempt to eat a snake [did I see that right?] could be associated with the eating of raw fish by Hanks from "Cast Away" ... As well as the search to find something to eat or the first weapon - the stick with which Mehmet returned from the mountain, but I don't know what he would achieve with this stick if he came across warriors armed to the teeth.
As I wrote in my first impressions, before I saw the episode translated, Mehmet is like a castaway, a wrack, a shipwrecked man who survived, but had no way to get out of this village - "island". Escaping from a town is definitely going to be even more difficult if at all possible, as Noah pointed out: Burada kacis yok.
Mehmet is also certainly a "wrack" in the psychological sense - his planned two-day trip, aimed at obtaining interesting materials, ended tragically - his companions died - in front of his eyes one can say, he also witnessed the slaughter of the villagers. He is left with a doll, a silent witness of the tragedy, once a children's play companion, now as a reminiscence of those who are no longer alive. “There are two of us left”, Mehmet told the doll. Did he mean that no one but them survived? Or maybe that only two of them were left on the "good side"? Because the dark side and darkness wins...
Darkness dominates the show and is accentuated by the dark colors in the scenes, in the homes, in clothes, especially black outfits of women whose fate is just as black. The sun seems to have disappeared. Instead of the sun's rays, we only have destructive rockets. What a contrast between the sunlit Yazidi village in the morning before the tragedy and in the evening when the hyenas appear! Speaking of hyenas, they are also symbolic. Before, hyenas appeared in human form …
8) MUSIC
We already know Aytekin Atas from other Engin projects: Bir Bulut Olsam, Olene Kadar and there were moments that I could hear some notes from these projects in the first episode. The music after 7 and 29.29 minutes reminded me a bit of Olene Kadar, and at 26.12 - Bir Bulut Olsam. But in general, for me, music is one of the show's great assets. Simply brilliant. Not only does it match perfectly the region in which the action takes place, but also the mood and scenes - perfectly heightening the tension and adding to suspense.
9) A SERIES WITH AN INTERNATIONAL CAST? I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THAT, BUT IT IS DEFINITELY MULTILINGUAL!
In the info about the series, we were told that an international cast would play in it. We probably did not expect famous actors from Hollywood or European cinema. I suspected from the very beginning that they might just be actors from Syria, etc. When we look at the cast, there are practically only Turkish names there. And these names didn't tell me much either, but I don't watch too many Turkish productions, so maybe that's why. From what I can see only Aziz Capkurt [Ebu Zalim] played in foreign productions. He probably knows German very well (He lives in Germany) as well as English and is shown in Kacis as a polyglot who speaks Turkish, Arabic and English! We can hear these three languages on the show [NB. each of them is from a different language family].
I wonder how Arab fans rate Aras Aydin's Arabic, but I still admire him. I am curious if we will also hear Engin in this language edition? So far he has spoken Turkish (obviously) and some English.
10) MISCELLANEA
I read that Taha Bora Elcoca, who plays Ahmet, is 192 cm tall! So he is taller than Engin? Have you noticed that?
Aziz Capkurt is the same age as Engin - both were born in 1981, but I’d say Aziz looks older than Engin.
The guest role of Ozgur Cevik, playing Robert, is worth mentioning for Ozgur is Engin’s colleague from Artistanbul, and they played together in Yabanci Damat and the musical "Romantica".
I also have some questions:
I don't understand why that waiter who had been lying in the well for so long had so much strength to fight.
Why did emir beat up Zeynep and call her a prostitute?
Why did the female Doc come to Mehmet with a gun? If she wanted to kill him, it would have been so much easier in the hospital, where it would be enough just to give him something ... [I also wonder if she copied his photos.]