I teach Turkish language and culture at the undergraduate level here in Washington, mostly for Corporate and US government employees being posted to Turkey.This is the most beautifully shot and elegant piece of Turkish cinema to date and an excellent introduction to Turkey.I notice one or two right wing nationalists calling it propaganda comparing it to Midnight Express. That sentiment is by people who simply can't stand anything but a glowing picture of the government.Highly recommended for anyone considering learning more about our culture.

This is a political story about Kurdish youth coming to the big city in modern Turkey.The director also the writer of the story tries to tell us how heartless are the Turkish Police ,torturing and killing innocent young Kurds.It is not clear in the movie why the Police are after them and why they are running away from the Police.Are they terrorist,have they broken the law?We do not know.In the middle of this hide and seek story there is also a love story;an innocent love between our hero and a teenage girl,which evaporates long before the end. Unfortunately there are too many unanswered questions in this movie,forfeiting its purpose.

Probably the best aspect of the movie is the cinematography. The scenes of Istanbul and south-eastern Turkey are magical. Another aspect that appealed to me is that although the film is obviously political, it does not present the situation in any direct way. The main characters are simple, apolitical characters whose lives become affected by the political events around them. By keeping the story focused on the immediate situation of the main characters, the background politics are all the more powerful because the director does not directly espouse or preach on behalf of any one point of view. It makes the viewer want to learn more about the complex nature of the Kurdish issue in Turkey.

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.