The Road (1982)

Strong and Moving!

Some things I liked some I did not.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Yol is an excellent movie in many respects. Acting is top notch, story has both substance and depth, cinematography is powerfully imposing and a beauty to watch, pacing and delivery is mature and well executed.That's all great but the real significance of this movie in my opinion is that it completes Guney's transformation from populist cinema to realist cinema. In this regard, members of the audience are given more freedom to come to their own conclusions, no embellishments or exaggerated/highlighted descriptions to make a point, no effigies to burn for the sake of an argument... subtle metaphors and a bleak, at times disheartening tone of delivery does the job just as well.This is Guney at his best and I feel privileged to have watched it in its 1999 reshowing, at 18 years of age, soon after the ban on the movie was lifted in Turkey. Unfortunately for 17 years, Guney's Yol was considered to be forbidden fruit by the gatekeepers of the oppressive Turkish regime. Now that the director has long passed away, his criticism lives on stronger than ever, in a bittersweet twist of irony.

What made me watch this movie is that both l heard it from my friends a lot and also Yılmaz Güney's name is enough to watch it.Both in Persian and Arabic, "traveling" means "mosaferat" and the "person who is traveling" is "mosafer".It is a common fact that Turkish has been affected by these two prosperous languages. Turkish has these two words in its dictionary as well, but with a different meaning; that is to say, "guest" or " being a guest" . What l am trying to say is that Güney is expressing life itself in a fascinating way. Living the life is the mood of "being on a road".The life of Turkey in which Kurdish people go through after 1980 Turkish coup d'état. The life that especially the Kurdish people but the humanity in general experience. If the Kurdish people lose in the social and political life, they actually lose everything including family, wife, children, love, hope and so on.The two impressive scenes for me: 1) The wife of Seyit Ali dies at the exact point where his horse dies while he is going to get her.2)Because of traditional affairs, one of the prisoner cannot marry with the girl he loves. The girl is so beautiful that he falls in love with her immediately after seeing her.Instead, he marries his sister-in-law. When he goes back to prison the beloved girl cannot do anything but stare back behind her lover.

This excellent movie shows how people in their life are the prisoner of their situation. The live in a world and society that expects them things to do and behave, and the do and behave as expected, even if they don't feel happy with it, or hurts them. They have to. This is a lesson for myself, and life as I experience it. Yhis is dramatically illustrated in the movie in the scene in which the husband is forcing his wife to go with him through the mountains, through the snow. Which has a bad ending. I remember this scene even more than 20 years after I saw it ever. This 'being prisoner of your situation' is not specific for the Turkish or any culture. I think it is typical for humans in general. Look around and you will see.

Yol has a very special place in Turkish cinema.It is a masterpiece in my opinion.What makes Yol different from other Turkish films.The most important reason is that it comes from its own culture.It doesn't try to imitate American films or some others.It has its own way.This is really very important in building a film.When Turkish directors catch this point like Yýlmaz Güney I believe very good Turkish films will exist in the future.