ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA

Original Title: Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Running time: 157 minutes

There is something hidden underneath the beautiful Anatolian steppe, a dead body being searched by a prosecutor, cops, the doctor and the accused. Together they roam the steppe and as they found the body they sent it to nearby town to be autopsied.

But it is more than CSI; Turkish style or the panoramic Anatolian steppe or hidden body, it is about hidden feelings, repressed emotion, guilt, justice, fear, existentialism, small town mindset and limits of knowledge. Those themes doesn't need sophisticated dialogue since everything in this film is understandable. But the viewers must be patient in absorbing this film since the pacing is quite slow at the first half, but it gets better by the end. The characters developed as the film goes by and we can be aware of their layers of emotion but not fully understood what lies beneath it, just like real life itself since sometimes we just don't understand people around us.

What comes as points to ponder for me as when the prosecutor dictating crime scene report at the crime scene and they laughed a bit at the joke that the prosecutor looks like Clark Gable or how the other doctor by the small town complaining about the lack of high tech autopsy tools as if he has no feeling or sympathy at all to the victim. Well, he is not wrong by bringing that up since it is important to have the right tool for his work but it just feel unsympathetic at all.

In other field, the cinematography is great without forcing itself to be too glossy. The cars moving ahead in pitch black darkness accompanied with the silence of the night is beautiful to watch. This is my first Nuri Bilge Ceylan movie I watched and I am looking forward for his other works like Uzak and Three Monkeys. I have to say, this film really does deserve to share the same prize with The Kid with a Bike at last year's Cannes.