Günese Yolculuk

Probably the best aspect of the movie is the cinematography. The scenes of Istanbul and south-eastern Turkey are magical. Another aspect that appealed to me is that although the film is obviously political, it does not present the situation in any direct way. The main characters are simple, apolitical characters whose lives become affected by the political events around them. By keeping the story focused on the immediate situation of the main characters, the background politics are all the more powerful because the director does not directly espouse or preach on behalf of any one point of view. It makes the viewer want to learn more about the complex nature of the Kurdish issue in Turkey.

this is really an amazing movie that left me stunned for a long time. Ustaoglu has made a film of a pure essence that rely heavy on the visuals and grabs itself deeply in your heart. Like Silent Hill or Apocalyse Now it shows shots that burn into your brain and remain there long after. Beside this it delivers insights in the nature of human existence and his place in the universe. For Journey to the sun not the people in itself generate hate, exclusion and violence but all prevailing power structures that suck up a whole state like a sponge. Mehmet, one of the protagonists, goes on a journey that brings him to the root of humanity and the meaning of life. This movie demonstrates the importance of friendship and solidarity beyond and above all walls of hate and malice, and how paper thin is the line between unlimited humanity and border generating, infamous barbarity.

Ex-architect Yesim Ustaoglu was inspired to make this film after reading newspaper articles about Kurdish villages laid waste in southeastern Turkey. Given the level of censorship she faced, this lyrical, deceptively simple tale about love, loss, and identity (brilliantly shot by Kieslowski's old cameraman Jacek Petrycki) is all the more courageous. The story starts with two outsiders, Mehmet and Berzan, meeting in Istanbul, where both are eking out an existence in the face of police oppression. When Berzan is killed, Mehmet embarks on an epic journey across country to return his body to his home village. Ustaoglu is never didactic. Instead, she shows the bafflement and yearning of the young friends as they struggle to make sense of their predicament.

yesim ustaoglu's crafted a beautiful, touching film that deals with the heady (and taboo) subject of turkish oppression of the kurds. without resorting to sentimentality or polemic, she's created tender characters who are not mere stand-ins for a political idea. mehmet's gradual realization of the kurdish reality in his own country starts out with his own stint in the police station (when he gets taken for a kurd because of his dark looks) and ends with an actual journey to the eastern part of the country where he witnesses firsthand the devastation that the government's "undeclared" war has wrought on the largely kurdish peasant population. the film is beautifully shot and despite its heavy subject matter, it is a joy to watch the largely unprofessional cast against the bustling cityscape of istanbul, and the plain beauty of the barren hills of southeastern anatolia.

(1999) Journey to the Sun (In Turkish/ Kurdish with English subtitles) POLITICAL DRAMA

Written and directed by Yesim Ustaoglu centering on adult teenager, Berzan (Nazmi Kirik) from Istanbul bonding with someone he was supposed to be hating, Mehmet (Newroz Baz) after saving him from an angry mob. Berzan himself eventually gets himself caught up in the system upon after what was supposedly a harmless bus ride and was ater branded with the dreadful X similar to the Scarlet Letter.

At times the complicated situation serves nothing more but a backdrop to the not so nice looking areas that may or may not be exaggerated.