Bir Kritik: Bellek, Şiddet ve Kimlik Aksında Nickel Boys (2024)

Year 2025, Volume: 2 Issue: 2, 427 - 441, 25.07.2025

Deniz Kurtyılmaz

Abstract

Bu yazı, Nickel Boys (2024) filmini, geçmişin bastırılmış travmalarıyla hesaplaşan ve sessiz tanıklık üzerinden ilerleyen sinemasal bir anlatı olarak ele almaktadır. Film, 1960’ların Amerika’sında bir ıslahevinde geçen gerçek olaylara dayanırken, yalnızca tarihsel bir dram sunmakla kalmaz; aynı zamanda adaletin yokluğunu, görsel ve işitsel eksiltmelerle temsil eden özgün bir anlatım kurar. Karakterlerin bakış açılarıyla sınırlanan kamera kullanımı, izleyiciyi pasif bir seyirci olmaktan çıkararak, tanıklığın sorumluluğuna dahil etmektedir. İki karakterin kimlikleri üzerinden gelişen hikâye, bireysel belleğin kolektif hafızayla nasıl iç içe geçtiğini göstermektedir. Filmde mahkeme, yargılama ya da adaleti temsil eden hiçbir kurumun sahneye çıkmaması, adaletin bazıları için zaten en baştan imkânsız olduğunu ortaya koyarken sessizlik, film boyunca hem estetik hem de etik bir araç olarak kullanılır. Bu yazı, Nickel Boys’un görünmeyen üzerinden kurduğu anlatının, siyah geçmişin bastırılmış sesini bugünün izleyicisine taşıyan güçlü bir sinemasal tanıklık sunduğunu savunmaktadır. Popülerlikten uzak olmasına rağmen, film sanatsal sadeliği ve politik derinliğiyle önemli bir etki yaratmaktadır.

Keywords

Travma , Bellek , Tanıklık , Kimlik , Irk ayrımı

A Review: Nickel Boys (2024) on the Axis of Memory, Violence and Identity

Abstract

This review analyzes Nickel Boys (2024) as a cinematic narrative shaped by suppressed historical traumas and structured through silent forms of witnessing. Based on true events that took place in a reform school in 1960s America, the film does more than present a historical drama; it constructs a unique narrative language that represents the absence of justice through visual and auditory reductions. The use of the camera, often confined to the characters’ perspectives, prevents the viewer from remaining a passive observer and instead invites them into the ethical burden of witnessing. Through the two characters’ identity, the story reveals how individual memory becomes inseparable from collective history. The lack of courtroom scenes, legal processes, or institutional representations of justice signals that, for some, justice is rendered impossible from the outset. Silence functions as both an aesthetic and ethical strategy throughout the film. This article argues that Nickel Boys delivers a powerful cinematic testimony by portraying what remains unseen and unheard, giving voice to a silenced Black past. Although it may not have gained mainstream popularity, the film leaves a lasting impression through its artistic restraint and political depth.

Keywords

Trauma , Memory , Witnessing , Identity , Segragation

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