Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da
Tags: mystery, murder

Plot synopsis:
Through the night, three cars carry a small group of men  police officers, a doctor, a prosecutor, grave diggers, gendarmerie forces, and two brothers, homicide suspects  around in the rural surroundings of the Anatolian town Keskin, in search of a buried body. Kenan, one of the suspects, leads them from one water fountain to another; at the time of the crime he was intoxicated and he cannot recall where he and his mentally challenged brother buried the body. The darkness and visual indistinctness of the landscape do not help; each spot looks the same as the others.Meanwhile the men discuss a variety of topics, such as yoghurt, lamb chops, urination, family, spouses, ex-wives, death, suicide, hierarchy, bureaucracy, ethics, and their jobs.Before dawn the prosecutor gets hungry, and the group stops at a nearby village to eat. After the meal Kenan reveals what happened the night of the killing  while drunk he let slip the secret that the victim's son was actually his, and then things got ugly.Daylight breaks. The body is found and taken to the local hospital for autopsy. The mother and son (perhaps 12 years old) are waiting outside the hospital. The son throws a stone at Kenan hitting him between the eyes. Kenan cries.The prosecutor invites the victim's wife to identify the body in the hospital morgue, files the necessary paperwork, and departs, leaving the doctor to perform the autopsy. The autopsy reveals the presence of soil in the lungs, implying that the victim had been buried alive, but the doctor intentionally omits that from the report. This may allow the offenders to get away with lesser charges, but it will also spare the victim's wife and stepson from further grief.The movie ends with a shot from the doctor's perspective of the mother and son in the distance walking away with the husband's belongings. The son sees that a soccer ball has been accidentally kicked far from a schoolyard and he runs and retrieves it and kicks it back to the children in the yard. He then runs back to his mother.

Review: Recreating his earlier slow burn meditations, yet with a new sense of maturity "Anatolia" is true to the real rhythms of night, the frustrations of waiting for the crucial evidence to appear, the vagueness of memory, remembrance of traumatic events in love and in murder and the bleakness of night of the eternal night and unwelcome truths revealed by the day.One senses the tedium and frustration of the murder investigation, simultaneously the dread and anticipation of revealing the dead body in it's gory realism, the salacious details resulting in the murder itself and the public crucification of the culprits Anatolia however is almost an antithesis to the psychological revelations over the course of the night.Before (and if) we reach the major discovery, the police officers and commissar reveal their aversions to murder, mortality, the search for a guilty suspect before the evidence is revealed, their cultural differences, assumptions about class differences, marriage, and human nature.
The ambiguity of night is as unclear as the motives for murder, does daybreak reveal anything revelatory, and does the dissection of a murder case hours and days after its uncovering reveal any truth into it's motives or human nature itself?The audience should be wiser against the small town working-class police task-force just following orders; they may empathise more with the reflective and sensitive Doctor Cemal or the cunning and charismatic Prosecutor Nusret, yet under the surface, their own personal lives in marriage and children are vexed, the investigation is almost a respite from these frustrations.
Therefore a lot of time spent for introspection and meditation, watching how the characters reacting to the tedium, stress, fatigue and mortality of a long hard night.The terrain of Anatolia is a foreboding character in itself with it's rolling fields illuminated by the sharp piercing car headlights slicing the night like snippets revealed about each character - yet the whole picture remains hidden.
The mood is incredibly poetic, rhythmically blending with the sounds of the whistling winds, the crunch of icy gravel, pattering of rain, and fluttering pigeons, all in the emptiness of night.Nuri Bilge Ceylan's previous films have been sombre (frustrations) meditations on human nature, such as the brewing storm in 3 Monkeys, the solitude of cascading snow and the cracking waves of the harbour in Distant, to the scorching blistering summer in Climates; environment and mood work in integration in his work.
And the the colloquial dinner at the mayor house under the swaying candlelight, then in pitch darkness, the light revealing (literally) different shades of each character; they the revelation (apparition) of a miraculous figure moments later is spellbinding.This is cinema with the highest respect for the audience, yet Ceylan has said that he wants to bore the audience, "because out of boredom might come a miracle - maybe days later, maybe years." Not sure whether to take this seriously however what it does demonstrate is a greater onus on viewer to think actively about the story and the consequences; out of deep reflection perhaps may come a revelation about the characters and ourselves..
I, on the other hand, marvel at how non-Turkish audiences can actually watch and like his films; it speaks volumes for his brilliant talent in making something so foreign and different a universal piece for everyone to appreciate.
This sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, But that of course applies to all forms of narrative may it be Barry Lyndon where you know the fate of Barry but are still enthralled with the story or a movie such as this, some of the audience (Many people left the theatre through the course of the film) can feel tedious with this approach accompanied with various long Tarkovsky-esque takes, however I think it was quite interesting, it's as if a camera just accompanied this search of the everyday case of a local Turkish law enforcement.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is an award winning motion picture directed by Turkish movie maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
The movie also offers a great insight into the complex procedure adopted by the police to solve murder cases, and the role of autopsy in estimating the actual cause of death.Once Upon a Time in Anatolia acquaints the viewer with the dark side of human psyche.
The divine glow of her angelic face under the lamp light is worth the luminosity of a million stars in the Universe.Overall, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is a fine specimen of movie-making that elevates contemporary cinema to new heights, both as an Art form as well as a medium of entertainment.
Watching the film was like reading an interesting book in candle light - your eyes are strained but you still want to come to the end.My only complaint is a good part of my attention was allocated to reading the subtitles, which can be fast at times, so I could not focus 100% on the acting and the images.
Its his best work so far, and was very pleasant to watch in spite of its long runtime.To me, its one of the achievements in the world cinema in the last few years.Unlike to his previous films, I see real mastery this time.
Like all good stories this is character driven, with insights into each major character being gradually revealed as the odyssey of searching for the murder victim, and through to the subsequent autopsy, unfolds.Along the way, the windswept desolation of the Anatolian steppes, the life of villagers in this region, the subtle revelations into the principle characters, the understated but all important role and influence of women in this society, the granular detail of each scene, and the slow but steady development of the storyline is so absorbing and compact, that despite the length of the movie it seemed to me like the wind and the landscape itself - including an apple - had been drafted into the movie as actors.To reiterate: a movie for those who prefer depth to splash..
It unveils its mysteries so slowly you wonder if anything is happening but like drips forming a stalactite each shot builds the story.I saw this in a film festival and even after 2 years there are striking visual scenes that stay with me.
Turkish photographer and director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's sixth feature film which he co-wrote with Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan and Turkish doctor, actor and screenwriter Ercan Kesal, co-edited and co-produced, is inspired by a true story that Ercan Kesal experienced in the town and district of Keskin in the central region of Anatolia, Turkey and quotes by Russian author Anton Chekhov (1860-1904).
Civil servants are looking for a buried body with the murderers, but due to the darkness of the night and the perpetrators not remembering exactly where they left the body, the locating of the victim is prolonged and as the search evolves, a prosecutor named Nusret initiates a conversation with a doctor named Cemal.Distinctly and precisely directed by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws an intimate portrayal of a murder investigation that pulls numerous bureaucrats closer to themselves and each other.
While notable for its naturalistic and atmospheric rural milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by Turkish cinematographer Gökhan Tiryaki, use of sound, use of light and efficient long takes, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven psychological character piece which is set during one night and one day in the Anatolian countryside, depicts some dense and in-depth studies of character.This literary, reflective, at times humorous and epic crime story which examines themes like guilt, bureaucracy, interpersonal relations and the solitude of man, is impelled and reinforced by its stringent narrative structure, enigmatic characters, substantial character development, subtle continuity, foreboding atmosphere, intriguing story about a woman and the fine acting performances by Turkish actor, filmmaker and poet Yilmaz Erdogan, Turkish actor Taner Birsel and Turkish actor Muhammet Uzuner.
A lyrical, incisive and mythical mystery which gained, among numerous other awards, the Grand Prix at the 64th Cannes International Film Festival in 2011.Beginning as a road-movie with only male characters who are gathered in the midst of a night to find a corpse and solve a murder case, and emphasizing on its portrayal of the characters, their faces, their communication and their surroundings, this scrutinizing drama turns into an internal voyage where the vast steppe landscapes of Anatolia gradually unlocks the souls of the closed people who becomes increasingly affected by their environment and the gruesome act that has brought them together, gazes mindfully into the lonely hearts of human nature and absorbs with its cinematographic excellence..
The incident took place while watching this film a high-resolution camera with a secret do you think has been logged, we have everything in the film drama, thriller, dark comedy, and they all transferred to the audience as the most perfect the most realistic, players exhibit peak performance, the movie more than two hours duration and slow progression of Although no person leaves, which in turn cause the greatest realism and the top of each scene, the viewer is asked to decode the desired questions, messages about human life is so labor should you watch, you should consider.Excellent visuals in the film, a complete work of art and watch over and over again,I applaud the film crew ....
Even at a staggering 2.5 hours running time, Ceylan has an incredible ability to keep us enthralled and guessing where the film will take us next.Just like Iranian maestro Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, and the Coen Brothers' No Country For Old Men, location in Anatolia becomes it's own sort of character.
With the beautiful cinematography of Gökhan Tiryaki, one of the film's most memorable moments is it's smallest: two long takes of an apple falling off a tree, rolling across the desert and floating away down a stream, to the sounds of the Prosecutor and stern police chief arguing.
So. the prosecutor, police, doctor, and assistants go driving around the countryside at night with the two suspects to look for it.Having a lot of time on their hands, they begin to pee off layers of their selves and reveal inner secrets, frustrations, fears, etc.
Taking place over one night and the following day, we see the local police, together with a prosecutor who has been dragged from home on the promise that together, they will uncover the corpse of a murdered man, as his killers have confessed and are willing to lead them to the body.Whereas most filmmakers would spend a great deal of time contriving dialogue and scenarios to explain to their viewers how this crime has occurred and what the reasons for it were, Nuri Bilge Ceylan is not interested in the slightest about this.
I will not describe their brilliance here, but leave them for you to discover for yourselves.On the surface, this film is painstakingly slow and strictly unsensational, but the genius of 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia' lies in the details, and in how subtly and realistically it reveals the inner characters of its protagonists – their frustrations, personal tragedies and cynicism.
In fact, it features a cast of balding, sagging, middle-aged men - a police chief, a prosecutor, a doctor and two murder suspects - who have gone on a night- long search, through the dour planes of Turkey, in search of a buried body.
the most thing i like in any movie is it's story and the conflict between it's characters.Conflict is present and shows the qualities of each character, but unfortunately the story is very weak and not interesting at all.even if any excitement is present elongation and stretching of the scenes make it boring more and more,some scenes may be of no value and no need for its existence.May be one reason for boredom in the movie is the emergence of the problem in it's beginning which is a murder then you will spend more that hour and half watching a very traditional boring search done by group of men in countryside.
¨You can say, once upon a time in Anatolia when I was working out in the sticks I remember this one night which began like this.¨Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is a beautiful film with some breathtaking cinematography, a great use of long shots, and a combination of dark sceneries lighted by vehicles or candles.
The story is also interesting and intriguing at times with some memorable characters, but the film also dragged and moved real slowly which made it a difficult watch.
There are a lot of symbolisms introduced in the movie as well, and the fact that the movie is so slow is kind of purposely done so in such a way that the viewer gets to feel and experience how the night is taking its toll on the characters who are suffering from a hard day's work and fatigue.
After his latest feature WINTER SLEEP (2014) won Palme d'Or this year, there is no better timing to assess Nuri Bilge Ceylan's previous works, personally I was daunted by my first experience with his film, THREE MONKEYS (2008, 6/10), so until now I dare to stride a second step, here comes his 2011 crime-drama.
Then sliding the opening credits, but this is not a conventional whodunit and don't expect Ceylan to expound on the nuts and bolts of the case, instantly the film embarks on its one-night and one-day account of how a convoy led by Prosecutor Nusret (Birsel) and Commissar Naci (Erdogan) locate the corpse with the confession of one of the said suspects Kenan (Tanis), and the subsequent autopsy conducts by Doctor Cemal (Uzuner).
Horrid scenes enter the play after the first half and the autopsy sequence at the end is the best scene of all.Arguably the best acting performances by a cast in recent times and I was totally amused by the way the actors portrayed their deep characters, especially the inspector, the prosecutor and the doctor.
sounds like a nightmare film for most, but if you have patience, this will reward you 10 fold, cause with the subtle moments throughout, you are dumbstruck when a certain moment happens of utmost importance to the story...so on the story, it's about one night and morning in anatolia, 2 locals confess to a murder and a search team are on the lookout for the body...
A police crew and a doctor accompany a suspected murderer and the local prosecutor on a night-long trek through the local countryside in search of a buried body.
Buried under the ponderous style is an intriguing story dying to be told.More damning still, the film feels like a short film plot stretched past the 2 and a half hour mark, where we are subjected to scenes that baffle by their mere presence: every time someone moves from point A to point B we are made to watch, and observe moments that would have been cut in any other film.
You understand and agree with the director that the story is secondary to the way of life,character,the peculiar way some things are conducted and ultimately that is what makes this a modern classic!Be warned though,this is a slow,deliberate movie but superb for that reason!.
don't let the 2 hours and 40 minutes worry you.once you get inside this human "fairytale" you will even read the Turkish end credits standing still.this little masterpiece of a movie that uses basically a background story to show the real thing.we spend an hour and more in the outskirts of a little town near a village.the touch of the camera is such that you feel like part of the group there ,you can breath the air and feel the cold and nature's sounds.extreme naturalistic direction that captivates you.all that life is ,is captured in that little story.all the actors are just too real and although you feel close to the characters you also glance in awe with the way this movie honors human life in general.i recommend to get in the car, drive ,and make this journey all the way back to the little town with this good cast.it's an experience..
for me the most bizarre thing is the name, its as if NBC shot the film to be able to put this charismatic name, but very honestly the film does not deserve the name, its about some Turkish guys looking after a murder case together with their private life matters & questions following them behind, the first quarter is very slow and we have to watch 3 cars coming and going for minutes, and we have to watch them till they disappear or till they come and stop, no any camera movement, no music, and we have to watch the same boring heineke's "funny games" scenes, why NBC likes to make it so boring ?
i did not like the acting, yilmaz erdoğan (the police) has no any difference from his other roles he played before, even the accent and manneers are just the same and other guys are not so successful (except fırat tanış, the murderer), i did not see any real nature play, i feel the camera everywhere, there are many scenes open to discussion, that is good because otherwise NBC would not be himself, its the best thing about him that he forces us to think...
Instead, slowing down to what feels like real time, it draws us into the rhythms of its characters, on a long lonely night that strips them all of some of the everyday illusions that life normally provides us as a comfort.
More Chekhov than CSI, the movie follows a group of men - a commissar, a prosecutor, a doctor, a few cops, a confessed murderer and his accomplice - through a long night as they travel in rural Anatolia, searching for the location of the victim's buried body.Introspective and slow-paced, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia plays like an anti-detective story.