ECUMENOPOLIS tells the story of an Istanbul family living in the gecekondu (the poorer areas),who are forcibly relocated into new tower blocks of social housing on the outskirts of the city. In doing so, this documentary makes some trenchant points about Istanbul's rapid growth over the last two decades, as well as the spread of private enterprise, which has led to the city's transformation. Skyscrapers dominate the skyline; new building projects abound. However the film argues, not without justification, that planning issues have been forgotten in the single-minded pursuit of money: many of today's tower- blocks will become tomorrow's slums, with inadequate drainage and other facilities. More importantly, the new builds have created alienated lifestyles, each family confined to their little concrete box. For the gecekondu families faced with forced relocation, there is the added problem of being unable to keep up with the monthly payments for their new apartments. ECUMENOPOLIS offers a chilling vision of a city that has exhausted its natural, physical and spatial resources, that nonetheless keeps on growing, apparently without restriction.
Plot summary
"Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits" tells the story of Istanbul and other Mega-Cities on a neo-liberal course to destruction. It follows the story of a migrant family from the demolition of their neighborhood to their on-going struggle for housing rights. The film takes a look at the city on a macro level and through the eyes of experts, going from the tops of mushrooming skyscrapers to the depths of the railway tunnel under the Bosphorous strait; from the historic neighborhoods in the south to the forests in the north; from isolated islands of poverty to the villas of the rich. It's an Istanbul going from 15 million to 30 million. It's an Istanbul going from 2 million cars to 8 million. It's the Istanbul of the future that will soon engulf the entire region. It's an Istanbul nobody has ever seen before.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
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Chilling Vision of Contemporary Istanbul
To see the transformation of Istanbul from the perspective of the movie-makers
Even though the documentary Ecumenopolis gets over-dramatic time to time it successfully and correctly presents us how Istanbul changed over time and what changed it in what direction. They make very good points on how the city is demolished/reconstructed and whom were effected.
The documentary basically shows how government executives in Turkey became tools of making money from construction under the name of beautifying and improving Istanbul while actually destroying the city's atmosphere, victimizing poor people and ignoring possible future results of their doings.
The documentary aims to cause at the least a concern over the issue and in order to do that it takes a anti-governmental and anti-capitalist stance which I find very courageous and right. Because while as a person living in Turkey, I saw all those advertisements and government's defending of these city transformation projects and new constructions, I had not realized the significant unfairness towards the people and environment. While I am still skeptic over the issue, the movie makers successfully presents their perspective on this problematic matter.
So, in general 'Ecumenopolis' is informing us and giving its perspective over the issue without boring us.