Through Soul of the Foot, Mustafa Uzuner delivers a meditation in three movements that reflect a piece of Turkish history: the country’s interrupted attempt to join the European Union, which is still pending. The film spans 25 years and explores the intimate and collective memory of this project. First, families and the media gather to bear witness to the 1999 eclipse. Then, there’s a leap in time as politics infiltrates the filmmaker’s daily life and family interactions in the context of the country entering into negotiations. Finally, a present time unfolds like an urban symphony, where a collection of fragments of existence, captured on film, documents the aftermath. Without nostalgia or resentment, this essay attempts to animate Turkey’s past and future potential with sensitivity and detail.
