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osprey_archerIt is a cold and snowy day here and I decided I wanted to watch something warm & snuggly & uplifting, so we watched Kedi, a Turkish documentary about the semi-stray cats of Istanbul, and if you are thinking "OMG that sounds adorable" - you are right. It is 100% adorable.
How could it not be when it's all about cats? Cats going about Istanbul, doing their cat things! Cats climbing up impossibly thin twisted vines, cats leaping down from great heights, cats walking along the ridgepoles of tents (there's one great shot in which the camera is inside the tend, looking up, and you can see the shadow of the cat passing across the tent above), cats napping on store awnings, cats pawing gently at the window of a delicatessen so the employees will bring a nibble of Emmental.
It's really cute, but it isn't just cute; an hour and a half of cute would eventually pall. You also get the human stories of the people who take care of these cats, and ominous rumblings of change on the horizon: will the human authorities crack down on stray cats? Will the cats be able to survive as the city paves over the places where they've lived?
There's a subtle challenge here for American cat-owners, too. Or rather - not subtle - but it's not blatantly in your face, it grows organically out of the Istanbul view of cats (as noble free-living creatures who choose which humans to spend time with) and the American way of cat-keeping. Is it really fair to a cat to keep it cooped up inside all day, when it's meant to roam free? Of course a cat may be safer inside, away from motorcars and other cats, and yet... a ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
How could it not be when it's all about cats? Cats going about Istanbul, doing their cat things! Cats climbing up impossibly thin twisted vines, cats leaping down from great heights, cats walking along the ridgepoles of tents (there's one great shot in which the camera is inside the tend, looking up, and you can see the shadow of the cat passing across the tent above), cats napping on store awnings, cats pawing gently at the window of a delicatessen so the employees will bring a nibble of Emmental.
It's really cute, but it isn't just cute; an hour and a half of cute would eventually pall. You also get the human stories of the people who take care of these cats, and ominous rumblings of change on the horizon: will the human authorities crack down on stray cats? Will the cats be able to survive as the city paves over the places where they've lived?
There's a subtle challenge here for American cat-owners, too. Or rather - not subtle - but it's not blatantly in your face, it grows organically out of the Istanbul view of cats (as noble free-living creatures who choose which humans to spend time with) and the American way of cat-keeping. Is it really fair to a cat to keep it cooped up inside all day, when it's meant to roam free? Of course a cat may be safer inside, away from motorcars and other cats, and yet... a ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
