Thursday, April 19, 2012

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Cinemateque is a movie theatre group in Calgary that brings in films that we might not see otherwise. Tonight's billing was Nuri Bilge Ceylan's once Upon a Time in Antatolia, the co-winner of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival 2011.

Ciemateque tells us that "in the dead of night, a group of men—among them, a police commissioner, a prosecutor, a doctor and a murder suspect—drive through the Anatolian countryside, the serpentine roads and rolling hills lit only by the headlights of their cars. They are searching for a corpse, the victim of a brutal murder. The suspect, who claims he was drunk, can't remember where he buried the body. As night wears on, details about the murder emerge and the investigators own secrets come to light. In the Anatolian steppes nothing is what it seems; and when the body is found, the real questions begin. This masterful, radically revisionist take on the police procedural from acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival."
Movie Poster: Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

I like to taunt Rebecca, pre-filmic experience for me, telling her nanny-nanny boo boo, look what I get to see and you don't. But it is usually about five minutes into the film and I am wishing that she were there beside me so that we could talk afterwards about the nuances of the script. And I am wishing the same for everyone else I love -- if only they could have been there.

The faces on the movie poster do not represent the victim nor either of the accused, but the police chief, the doctor and the prosecutor whom we watch doing their investigations.

On the way to the theatre, I couldn't answer any of Kelvin's questions, even though I had done some reading before going to the movie.  Too hard to drive and lay out the plot, I told him.  But even a cold call on this movie would be worth it, just to get the feel for the Anatolian Steppes in Turkey.

Just when I think my wander lust is slowing down, a movie like this makes me want to travel again.

Arta


2 comments:

  1. ah sweet posting! do i add it to the list of films to teach for next year?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you add it?

    Mmm. That makes me want to type another post.

    Arta

    ReplyDelete

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