“Run For Money” is a movie that fully confirms the proposition that “a good movie is characterized by the main character undergoing a serious transformation by the end of the movie compared to the beginning”. Directed by Reha Erdem, this is his second feature-length film, and it opens with a sequence featuring an impressive theme music and a dollar bill being tossed in the air.

The main character, Selim, is a tradesman who lives with his wife, daughter, and father. He also has a widowed neighbour who constantly approaches Selim, but he never responds to her advances. At the beginning of the film, Selim is virtuous enough to return a dollar bill he found on the ground in a park to its owner. However, as the saying goes, “no one is innocent of the sin they haven’t been tested for.” One evening, as he takes a taxi home, he discovers that a customer who had just left the taxi has left a bag full of dollar bills behind. After a brief moment of hesitation, Selim gets out of the taxi and runs to return the money to its rightful owner, but it is too late. This money becomes Selim’s greatest trial. He doesn’t know where to hide it, and he is extremely anxious. He hides the money under a snack bar, but a figurine of an angel on top of the counter falls, and his innocence is entirely lost. His relationship with the money becomes tainted. He counts and starts to spend the money, taking advantage of his family’s occasional trips. Meanwhile, the people he talks to always bring up money and discuss how to earn it and invest it. He promises to buy new things for his wife, such as a dishwasher, a car, and a house, among others. His wife is surprised by what is happening, but also pleased, as Selim claims to have won the money in a lottery. When it comes to character transformation, Selim has become a despot boss who fires the young boy working with him. One day, a gun-wielding child enters his shop and demands that he hand over all the money in the cash register. He does so. When questioned by his friends and the police, he lies and says that the young boy working with him is the thief.

One of the most striking scenes of the movie is when Selim is traveling on the Fenerbahçe Ferry, he looks around from his seat and sees a man who forgot his money in the taxi right in front of him. He becomes incredibly anxious and enters a state of escape psychology. While running away from that man, he sees a boy who robbed his shop right in front of him in his new seat, and a scene that rises with the theme music turns into a complete escape scene. When Selim gets off the ferry and runs, the Istanbul skyline in the background is impressive. Not only in this scene, but generally Florent Herry and Jean-Louis Vialard have incredible cinematography in the movie. Hats off to it.

The struggle he has with the animals he encounters during his travels also reveals the point where the character transforms. And finally, he vomits at one point. This scene can be interpreted as “the character cannot bear this situation and disgusts the person he has become.” There is a situation where he cannot know where to spend the money. He gives money to his friend who deals with antique works, and buys clothes for his widowed neighbour again. While the child he accused for no reason went through difficult times because of his false statement, Selim shamelessly gives him money and says, “money can cover any wound,” for example. The character has become so shallow. He reads a newspaper article where the man who forgot his money in the taxi committed suicide.

When Selim’s wife, daughter, and father went on a trip one day, his widowed neighbour came over while he was home alone. He could no longer resist her, they slept together, and just then Selim’s family walked in. Not knowing what to do, Selim threw himself off the balcony and the falling dollar bill that lands on him is actually the same one we saw in the opening scene of the movie. Run For Money is a mind-boggling movie with its finale. Taner Birsel portrays Selim’s character transformation with great acting throughout the movie. While Zuhal Gencer shines as Nihal, Bennu Yıldırımlar, Bülent Emin Yarar, and Engin Alkan do their part in bringing their characters to life. The movie, which features short scenes played by names such as Ara Güler, Meral Çetinkaya, Köksal Engür, Sevin Okyay, Cüneyt Türel, and Serkan Altunorak, is one of the unappreciated treasures of Turkish cinema.