Özer Kiziltan’s Takva: A Man’s Fear of God (2006) would be a predictable and poorly executed theological complication on a stock plot had it continued beyond its heavy-handed ending. It relies on a fairly simple connect-the-dots plot: Muaharrem, (Erkan Can) a pious Muslim, is asked to become the debt collector for an Islamic community in Turkey. As a result, he has nightmarish wet dreams—one involving a clown and a butcher and another involving mannequins—and reluctantly becomes corrupt.
The one kink screenwriter Onder Cakar puts in that formula is that where Muaharrem might try to take charge of his life, he collapses into a bathetic heap. Can’s moving performance and a few scenes that revolve around Muaharrem’s religious beliefs make Takva a little less dull but not by much.
