‘When We Leave’ explores hideous tradition of ‘honor killing’

Published 12:01 am Friday, April 8, 2011

Most viewers of “When We Leave” will have a terrible feeling about what is going to happen, once the mechanics of the plot have settled into place.

As we watch, we begin to hope that this terrible thing might be stopped from happening. This makes for a single-note experience, although what’s there is suspenseful.

The film follows a woman, Umay, who is of Turkish descent but raised in Germany. At the beginning of the movie, she takes her young son and leaves her abusive husband in Istanbul.

She returns to her family in Germany. But this is complicated. By leaving her husband, she has supposedly brought shame to her tradition-bound family, especially her father and older brother, who are insistent she go back to the husband.

They threaten to cut her off from the family. This is devastating to her, but it doesn’t take long to realize that there are even worse consequences within this traditional world: the specter of the “honor killing,” in which a woman perceived to have brought shame to her family is in fact murdered by them.

It would be nice if this were a far-fetched idea in the 21st century, but unfortunately the idea of the “honor killing” seems to be flourishing. It requires a horribly distorted idea of honor, but it still goes on.

“When We Leave” is the first film directed by Feo Aladag, a successful Austrian actress. She uses the suspenseful situation to illuminate the social issue at hand, and although the film doesn’t always feel entirely fresh (a possible love affair for Umay, with a cheerful restaurant worker, is fairly stock), the anger behind the movie is constant.

Umay is played by Sibel Kekilli, who came to prominence with a heart-wrenching performance in “Head-On,” a remarkable 2004 film that was also about the German Turkish community.

She’s not exactly an actress of great range, but her long, mournful face and determined bearing go a long way to conveying Umay’s torment. We may wonder why Umay doesn’t just take off and leave, but Kekilli portrays an almost physical need to stay connected with family, even when that family has said it doesn’t want her anymore.

“When We Leave”

The family of a young woman of Turkish descent claims she has brought them shame when she leaves her husband, and the specter of the inaptly-named tradition of “honor killing” comes into view. This straightforward film generates power and suspense, with a premise that is unfortunately not far-fetched. In German and Turkish, with English subtitles.

Rated: Not rated; probably R for violence, subject matter

Showing: Varsity.