Review: ‘Midnight Return’

by Andrew Parker

Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey is a moderately entertaining, clumsily strung together documentary about one man’s attempt at reconciliation after his harrowing life story was turned into a movie that demonized an entire culture. The film in question was Alan Parker’s controversial, award winning Midnight Express, which was based (more or less) on Hayes’ bestselling account of several years he spent in a Turkish prison in the 1970s after being busted for concealing a bunch of hashish at an airport while he was leaving the country.

In film history, Midnight Express remains a divisive work. While unquestionably terrifying in its depiction of a Turkish prison as a nightmarish hellscape and masterfully directed by Parker – working from a sensational/sensationalized screenplay from Oliver Stone – it also didn’t feature a single sympathetic local character and boasts a climactic speech from a recently escaped Hayes (played by the late Brad Davis) that’s one of the most bluntly, brazenly, and openly racist moments in cinematic history.

Personally, I loathe Midnight Express with almost every fibre of my being, but I can’t say that it wasn’t made with a distinct amount of craft and a sense of tension. It’s biggest problem is that despite all of its straight-faced seriousness, it’s kind of laughably implausible if one stops to think about it for even a split second; the epitome of Americans fearing outsiders; an unabashedly grim exploitation flick with a razor thin veneer of a politicized prestige project. For as many critics raved about it, just as many reviled and vilified it.

Hayes would partially agree with the assessment that Parker’s film was socially unbalanced and irresponsible, and that’s kind of the point behind Canadian documentarian Sally Sussman’s debut feature documentary. Midnight Return looks back on Hayes’ time spent in prison, how his sentence was part of a greater political discussion during the Nixon administration, his daring escape in 1975 after serving only five years of a thirty year sentence for drug smuggling, the media circus that surrounded his miraculous return to U.S. soil, and the sudden celebrity that led to seasoned producer Peter Gruber to option Hayes’ hastily penned memoir for the big screen. Years removed from the phenomenon behind Midnight Express and his own ordeal, Hayes seems keen to apologize to the people of Turkey for making their country seems so terrifyingly demonic.

Sussman, a television veteran, has a lot of ground that she wants to cover, and does so by darting back and forth around Hayes’ present efforts at reconciliation, the production of the film, and her subject’s sometimes checkered past. There’s a lack of focus that’s evident in how Midnight Return lays out all the often contradictory facts and details, and Sussman’s inconsistent style talking head interviews and occasional animated recreations grates, suggesting that this was a project that spanned years and got somewhat out of control during production and editing. But from moment to moment there’s a lot of great material to be found in Sussman’s film. It’s far from a great package, but the bits and pieces are quite pleasing.

Cinephiles, even those like me with no affinity for Midnight Express, will find the segments discussing Parker and Stone’s adaptation of Hayes’ memoir fascinating. It sounds catty to say, but it’s fun to watch all of these creative types dealing with accusations of racism head on, while simultaneously throwing each other under the proverbial bus. Parker remains unapologetic towards his depiction of the Turkish people, and clearly has zero love for Stone outside of a begrudging admiration over the script. Stone has nothing nice to say about Parker and acclaimed British producer David Putnam – laying most claims of racism at their feet – or his experience working with them, and offers up what feels like a half-hearted apology for twisting Hayes’ words around. By this point, the creative people behind the creation of Midnight Express have heard every valid and invalid criticism levied against them, and while they seem tired of rehashing stories of old wounds, they’re still quite open about their feelings towards Hayes and the film throughout Midnight Return.

If the first half of Midnight Return doesn’t have as sharp of a focus, the second half finds Sussman placing more of an emphasis on Hayes’ attempts to apologize for any harm he might have caused to Turkey’s global image. He’s staunchly unapologetic about the crime he committed to land himself in a Turkish prison in the first place, but he’s clearly troubled by how his words led to a film that portrayed the citizens of an entire country as “pigs.”

This section is where Sussman’s Midnight Return starts to get interesting. Through interviews with notable Turkish figureheads and those closest to Hayes, this newfound desire for closure and forgiveness comes across equally admirable and needy. While it’s nice to see Hayes trying his hardest to return to the country and apologize in person, Hayes often comes across as someone who’s trying too hard to deliver a message that might not be received as well as he hopes. It’s also questionable if Hayes’ trip to the country for the first time in decades won’t do Turkey’s unstable political climate more harm than good. It’s clear that Hayes thinks he’s doing the right thing by going public with his conflicted feelings towards his celebrity (something he obviously still relishes), but it’s just as interesting to watch some of Sussman’s interview subjects view his efforts with a rightful amount of caution and skepticism. While the entirety of Midnight Return doesn’t work, it’s this subtle thread of doubt that makes the whole thing a lot more interesting.

Midnight Return opens at The Royal in Toronto on Tuesday, January 30, 2018.

Check out the trailer for Midnight Return:

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