Biyografi Dünyası

The Wheel (Çark) (translated)

Movie · 1987 · 16 people

Drama and politics combine in Çark (The Wheel), a Turkish film that Muzaffer Hiçdurmaz directed in 1987. It turns to the least organized, most oppressed workers and is counted among the first purely worker-centred films in Turkish cinema. Bekir Yıldız and Haşmet Zeybek wrote the screenplay, Burak Film produced it, and Cahit Berkay and Cem Karaca composed the music. It runs about 89 minutes.

Four friends at a glass factory clash with their boss over unpaid labor and are thrown out. At a shipyard they find another system of exploitation and realize they are being used as strike-breakers; their last stop is the unregulated, unhealthy leather workshops of Kazlıçeşme. When a workmate dies in an accident, they raise awareness among the other workers and start a strike. Tarık Akan leads the cast as Rauf, with Müge Akyamaç, Cezmi Baskın, İhsan Yüce and Kenan Bal.

Originally titled Direniş (Resistance), the film was renamed Çark because the post-coup climate made the first title risky. That failed: the crew was questioned by police several times, cinemas pulled the film, and although never directly censored it could not open in Istanbul. Unseen for years, it first screened in Istanbul at a film history festival, later at the 2006 International Workers' Film Festival. It was Hiçdurmaz's only film as director.

DirectorMuzaffer Hiçdurmaz
Production companyBurak Film
The Wheel (Çark) The Wheel (Çark) The Wheel (Çark)

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Cast

Kenan Bal Kenan Bal Actor · 75 years old Worker Tarık Akan Tarık Akan Actor · died at 66 Rauf Müge Akyamaç Police officer Leman Savaş Yurttaş Actor · 1944 – 2002 Worker Erol Demiröz Erol Demiröz Actor · died at 80 Alamancı Recep Oktay Sözbir Ali Günay Girik Kerim İhsan Yüce Actor · died at 61 Salim Muazzez Kurdoğlu Bekir Yıldız Haşmet Zeybek Erdal Sümer Worker Hikmet Karagöz Actor · died at 73 Diler Saraç Zehra Alptürk Sabiha Cezmi Baskın Cezmi Baskın Actor · 77 years old Workers' foreman

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Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Çark carries the weight of a historical document as one of the first purely worker-centred films in Turkish cinema. The path from a glass factory to a shipyard and on to the unregulated leather workshops of Kazlıçeşme reads like a map of the least organized corners of working life. Workers realizing they are being used as strike-breakers shows that exploitation comes not from a single boss but from a whole system. The film's own fate is a story in itself: renamed from Direniş (Resistance) to Çark in the post-coup climate, yet still unable to open in Istanbul, it teaches as much about the 1980s climate of expression as the film itself does.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Muzaffer Hiçdurmaz's only film as director is built station by station: each new workplace is another face of exploitation. That structure gives the story a clear direction, but it is also the film's biggest weakness; the four friends can come across less as individual characters than as carriers of an idea, and the thesis sometimes gets ahead of the drama. Bekir Yıldız's hard social realism is felt in the script. The music by Cahit Berkay and Cem Karaca gives the film a distinct identity, and Tarık Akan carries Rauf with convincing weight. A flawed film whose courage is beyond question, and one that needs to be judged alongside its context.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

Çark is a hard film about brutal working conditions, sackings and a death in a workplace accident; it is for grown-ups rather than children. There's no light entertainment here; the film is serious and thought-provoking. It could be worthwhile with high-school-age teenagers on an evening when you want to talk about work and workers' rights. Grandparents who love Tarık Akan will watch with interest too.

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