Aller vers le soleil

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.

This is a very good movie with a simple story but lyrical and poetic cinematography. The scenes both in the cities and the countryside are beautiful. Some Turkish commentators who disliked the movie are simply blinded by their extreme nationalism and unwillingness to admit that Kurds were -and still are- oppressed in Turkey. Do they deny that the Kurdish language was forbidden in Turkey until just a few years ago? They should just read Amnesty International's description of Turkey's justice system and mistreatment of prisoners. Of course, they also deny that their ancestors committed Genocide against the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire in 1915. If Turkey wants to join the EU, the young generation must first join twenty-first century and stop behaving like their ancestors. They must face history and come to terms with it. They must stop imprisoning journalists and others for "insulting Turkishness" simply by speaking out. It would also be nice if they stopped assassinating journalists and priests. Enjoy this very worthwhile movie, then read more about this region's history and make up your own mind.

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.

(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.

We as the Turkish audience, were able to see the movie in our theaters by March 2000. The film is about what most of us ignore to see, or ignore to show in Turkey. It has a documentary aspect, the amateur actors and the real location shots increases the honesty and realism in the film.

Without sloganized dialogues or manipulatng plot it is a story of a journey through Turkey's wounds...