Oray

In an argument with his wife Burcu, Oray pronounces the Islamic word for separation, ‘talaq’. The Imam informs him of the consequences: Oray must now part from Burcu for three months. Oray uses the enforced break in their relationship to make a fresh start and moves to Cologne. Here, he finds a job at a flea market and seeks out a new Muslim religious community, led by the young Imam Bilal. Soon, Oray begins preaching himself; he is especially popular with the younger members of the congregation, and this makes Bilal jealous. When Burcu pays her husband a surprise visit, they realise that the break has done them good and they still love each other. Oray asks Bilal for advice. But the latter advocates a stricter interpretation of Islamic law than the imam in Oray’s community back home: pronouncing ‘talaq’ he says, does not mean a break, but a divorce. Director Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay employs a quasi-documentary style to tell the story of an individual exhausting himself as he works his way through a religion’s complex belief system and his search for fulfilment as a human caught between his belief in love and his love for his faith. (Berlinale)