Camburnu, a town near the Turkish Black Sea, sits at the center of a hot environmental debate. Many people in power, including the mayor make, frequent visits to examine the situation but are reluctant to take any real responsibility. Appealing their cause to the camera, the residents meet visiting authorities and ask for immediate action. The residents complain they cannot drink the water because of the foul smell, but no promises are made?just assurance of every effort being made, and that they are trying. Shot between 2007 and 2012, Polluting Paradise documents the town’s and the residents’ reality, which is of a town being abandoned by the development-oriented point of view of the ruling elite. Fatih Akin has made a career in Germany and Turkey by focusing on people that have no choices and who feel lost and here he carries the camera himself to show, through the reality in Turkey, the violations of the most basic rights. Rather than dramatically depicting tragic situations the film reveals the aspirations of people who have to endure that reality. (LEE Song-young)