’Bayrak’ (The Flag) by Köken Ergun could be considered an extraordinarily elegant film: It documents Turkish school children involved in a patriotic ceremony taking place on Children’s Day in a giant football stadium, simply using two handheld miniDV cameras. Without further commentary, these two perspectives of the ceremony are conjoined using the basic strategy of a split screen. The result could hardly be more effective, moving and claustrophobic. We become witnesses to the indoctrination of the young in a manner that could not be more frontal. But before we cast aspersion, this film should also remind us to consider the effective though hidden strategies of indoctrination here at home.
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