Once Upon A Time In Anatolia

                                                                                                                                                                           

Well, stop watching whatever you are watching right now and watch 'Once Upon A Time In Anatolia'. I do mean it. This Brilliant Turkish film from Nuri Bilge will leave you speechless. This movie ain't no 'Pulp Fiction' and certainly ain't no 'The Godfather' but visually and narrative wise the movie is a complete feast for all the people like me. Surprisingly, up until today morning, I never heard of this filmmaker but heard of the film in some 'greatest films' list on some website. 

The film follows a group of cops and two suspects trying to exhume a body while we realize that the suspect doesn't remember the spot where he buried the body. As the film goes forward (or rather stays there) we listen to conversations of people that intrigue us and pull our ears towards their words. You would never even want to conduct the very inevitable mistake of blinking your eyes while watching this visual masterpiece 'cause you'll be afraid to miss a single frame of what will follow. Brilliant cinematography, gripping narrative, realistic performances by the actors made this film an astounding piece of art work. 

The movie is filled with limited dialogues where the director has to covey the meaning and drama through the actors’ performances and heavy dialogues are used to bring the film a natural ‘right-now-happening’ film.

An epic way of storytelling is what I call this 151 minute drama dealing with pain, guilt, gratitude, goodwill and simple ideas which interpret deep philosophy and makes us realize the sense in the situation.

The most important part in the film is the 'Sound'. It's so miraculous that a director could pull off something this great without using background music but just the ambient sounds which'll take us to the location every now and then and we can feel the air that blows on the screen. 

For about 100 minutes of the film, the director takes us on an astounding journey where the cops move from place to place in search of the body. The latter part of the film deals with the intense drama as to what happened after they find the body. 

The film ends with the scene where the doctor who observes the woman and the kid of the dead victim while conducting the autopsy and the sounds of the actions in the room along with the ambient sound of the kids playing outside can be heard before the screen goes black but the audio doesn't. It goes along with the rolling titles and that will be your turn to applaud the film.

This day - doesn't it feel like one of those days where you watch a beautiful film and sleep with a smile on your face? Yes, it is. Today I've seen an intensely directed and written film by Nuri Bilge.

If you feel like I'm talking too much about this film, read the first line and do what I said and you'll cry out in wonder on realizing how a true visual masterpiece the movie is!