Chichester Cinema at New Park
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
- Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da
This brilliant awarding winning Turkish film follows a group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.
Winner of the 2011 Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, at 157 minutes, this story unfolds slowly and obliquely. It needs to be long, and indirect, because the film is about how sad truths can be revealed during the slow process of doing a job. Described as a metaphysical road movie and also an unorthodox crime drama focusing on a group of men who, on a dark and blustery night, search deserted roads of southern Anatolia for a corpse.
This most audacious film is a measured, masterly account of a police investigation. Chekhovian in its piercing insights, subtle wit and thematic richness: the concerns and manners of provincial life; the relationship with the places we inhabit; the balancing of ethics and pragmatism, holding on to the banalities of life when faced with misfortune, absurdity and death. A wholly engrossing experience. (subtitles)
Turkey · 
Bosnia & Herzegovina · 2011 · Nuri Bilge Ceylan · 157min
