Maybe I missed something somewhere (I was getting sleepy), but why does that guy kill him at the end?
shareRemeber that lady that wanted to buy the area that Francesco finally decided to restore? Well the murderer was probably one of her men, especially since Zozo, on many occasians tried to warn Francesco about that lady. She's pretty bad....even with only five minutes of screentime.
shareI was very much confused by the ending also. i felt that enough emotion had been present throughout, and to kill the protagonist was just unecessary. a real tear jerker though. i suppose the lady that wanted the place did get someone to do it, it makes sense. thanks :]
shareZozo the real estate guy warned Francesco that "those people are dangerous". They wanted the steam bath property so they could knock down the old buildings and develop the neighborhood. Francesco decided not to sell the building as he slowly start to groove on his new lifestyle in Istanbul. He had a design firm in Italy, so he felt all his creative juices flowing as he worked on the restoration of the hamam. He also realized not only the family in his building would be forced to move, but everyone in that old neighborhood would be soon be displaced and have to find new homes. So he refused to sell. The business people whacked Francesco to scare everyone into selling their land so they could build their shopping center. Ah, progress. What's one dreamy Italian guy when there is a mall to be built.
I also saw that once Francesco was killed, his wife would stay behind and in a sense "become" his deceased aunt as she'd take over her role. His wife had even started to use the aunt's cigarette holder. Of course, it was left open as to what the wife would do after the murder of her husband who seemed to have fallen in love with a man while they were separated. Would she be so scared of the gangsters that she'd high tail it back to Italy in terror? Would she stand up for her husband and try to have his murder investigated? Would she stay in Turkey in the loving arms of the surrogate family who had so warmly embraced her husband, and defy the gangsters to kill everyone in the neighborhood before they got the land for their shopping mall?
Stay tuned. There is a sequel here.
Calculated ambiguity.