Benutzerrezensionen

I began watching this movie expecting a somewhat dry movie about missing persons in Turkey's troubled recent political past.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by an imaginative script (thoughtful nods to Antonioni's Passenger); very good acting (ever wonderful Zuhal Olcay and nuanced acting from a wide supporting cast); documentary interviews effortlessly inserted into the story line (e.g. the heart-wrenching testimonial of the mother from Genc about her missing son); beautiful location shots(atmospheric Mardin streets and sites).

Except for some minor problems (sound in a few scenes) and somewhat ill-fitting voice-over (luckily in just a few scenes) this is a little gem of a movie!

I have seen the movie in its premiere in Ankara, Turkey and I have watched the movie in the same theater with leading actress Zuhal Olcay and the director Tayfun Pirselimoglu. I think, being his first movie as a director, he did a great job. The movie got the Jury Special Award in The Montreal Film Festival and it really shows that it earned the award. Besides that, the movie caused some controversy in Turkey because of its (so-called) political insight and banned by the government for a short period of time. But Turkish film-goers are now able to watch that movie.

Besides being a good movie, it had some problems. There was a sound problem in the movie that some of the words were difficult to hear. Maybe this was the problem of the film theater because it was the opening day of the place.

During the film the lead actress, very talented Zuhal Olcay tries to show the pain of the mother who has lost his son, and yes she does it well. But when her lost son's fiancée takes her to an old woman's house who -in her real life-had lost her son before you can see the difference between acting and the reality. I was almost gonna cry when I saw that old woman's face on the screen.She was trying to accept the situation and speaking proudly but you can feel the pain within her. To me that scene is the end of the film because after that moment no matter how you try you can't believe Zuhal Olcay's pain.

Once again you can see the difference between fiction and the reality.Reality really hurts...