Eskiya le bandit

After 35 years in prison, a mountain bandit goes to Istanbul to find the man who betrayed him and stole his lady. Nothing much new here, dredging up a lot of the usual gangster/revenge/fish out of water motifs, but it does a decent job of pulling you in and manages a certain freshness despite the familiarity of the material. Some of the larger dramatic scenes are painfully clichéd, but it's pieced together nicely and has some pretty good character moments. I get the feeling Turgul is a more talented director than a writer. Sener Sem (who I just realized was also in that lousy "Rascals" movie I recently watched) is a likable fellow, and his rapport with Ugur Yucel works well. Overall it's a somewhat mediocre film, but quite watchable with flashes of potential.

From the cinematography to the plot, to the fine acting, this film is a great example of the diversity of film-making outside Hollywood. A triumph from beginning to end, this film is pretty difficult to pigeonhole as it has so many elements to it. Is it a thriller, is it a reflection on one man's life, is it a buddy movie, is it a revenge movie? It's all this and more. It's got a great pace about it and the depiction of city and country is nicely juxtaposed in many of it's scenes. It's a while since I've seen this film, but there are so many scenes which have stayed with me. I love this film, but damn it's difficult to find.

This is a great Turkish movie. It has a great story line. This movie opened a new age in turkish movie history. Before this movie turkish cinemas were almost dying. The actors are great. If you want to watch a great movie try this!

this movie has a great storyline.. for the people that doesn't know Turkish movies highly recommended to watch this movie, its a great drama with Sener Sen (one of the best Turkish actor)who's the last bandit from his old gang. He was in prison because of his backstabbing friend, he gets out of jail and start for seeking revenge and starts finding the real reason of the backstabbing. This movie stays one of my favorites and thats why i wont spoil anything, so i highly recommend you guys this movie !!

10 out of 10

ReZ

The 'rebirth' of Turkish cinema is rejoiced with perhaps one of the finest movies to ever appear in Turkey. It appears the sudden pause of the Turkish cinema due to the lacking quality against the western movie market has resumed, transforming yesilcam and its unique and familiar style into something that is more recognizable by the 'new generation'. Movies like Kahbe Bizans, Abuzer Kadayif, Eskiya, and TV series like Ikinci Bahar and Yilan Hikayesi are some of the finest examples of this. Yet these are far more than simple replications of the western styles, these contain an element of the Turkish culture and people that we are so used to seeing. This is the essence of the brilliance beneath Eskiya. The way it accurately reflects our troubles and the way we deal with them.

Beginning with the first scene, we become aware of the how incredibly well written the script is and the realism and truthfulness beneath the characters. This realism in fact is drawn to such a scale that at no poin t in the movie, do we feel anger at any character, or identify one as evil; merely the victims of the horrible system in which we live in, and the incidents we read in the papers everyday. While national problems such as migration, organized crime, and poverty are all central themes to the movie, so are human emotions like betrayal and revenge. Even the bizarre ending filled with numerous deaths appears very natural.

The acting also is quite remarkable. Sener Sen, being a great actor, portrays Baran superbly, while Ugur Yucel with his unquestionable talent does his part and every other role is cast with incredible thought and consideration. The climax I thought shows this the best, Sener Sens monologue on the rooftop scene had tears coming out of my eyes.

Overall, it would be very unjust to say that this is the greatest Turkish movie to be ever filmed because, being a kid of the new generation, I would simply be completely blocking out 50+ years of yesilcam. However with it's great script, the warmth we feel towards the characters, and the amazing performances by the actors, this is one of the best and it most certainly is a symbol of the rebirth of Turkish cinema. If you are Turkish and haven't seen or heard about this movie, you probably slept through the last 5 years go see it now! And if you're not Turkish, you should still see it. I recommend it to anyone.