At the Bar

The film is also known for its 'Haneke' style. It has very striking and realistic scenes that are not uncommon in Turkish cinema. However, I don't think such a film is for the benefit of society, and it's nothing new to discover cinematically. Some of you may find me ruthless with points, but as a Turk, I think movies like this are not appropriate.

The film must have a value that it will add to the person, it must be an emotion. At some points in the movie, an attempt was made to shed light on the inner world of the characters, especially for Selim, whom we see as the leader of the gang. However, I don't think this is fully achievable. A little more discussion would have been nice. I don't want to give spoilers. Yes, the acting etc are good, but I find it weak in terms of subject and scenario.

This is not a Haneke film, they are not in the same league. This fact doesn't harm this special film. It's special because it gives the universal brutality of human nature in a local way. Bad guys are doing wonderful job in their particular performances. Nejat Isler, playing brutal yet charismatic gang leader in a very convincing way. Other bad guys were also doing wonderful job, they are so hateable! Many of movie goers didn't like the "tgg"(reconsider) philosophy in the movie. I don't agree, this is some kind of call for sanity, even after such a brutal experience. Being human or just not being... I highly recommend this hard hitting film, makes you go hmm...

Hard to abide the realism of this striking movie...

Not the blood and the excess violence but the pure reality of - how anybody do something like that to other- caused some of the audience leave the movie in the first half.

We have seen these kinds of headlines everyday in the third pages of newspapers (maybe not as barbaric as this) and get used to these kinds of savagery news. But to see this realism in a well-played and directed movie shocked the most movie goers.

These kinds of things is happening all around the world and makes the victims' whole life non-tolerable.

Thanks to Serdar Akar for his plain directing and also would like congratulate Serdar Orcin for his great play as a psychopath. One of my best in Turkish movies.

When the crime happened in a descent neighborhood of the capital city of Turkey, i was a university student in Ankara. We were all shocked, i remember the exact place of the crime. Years later, the movie came out. The true story is even worse than portrayed on the film. Brief, it is one of the best movie of turkish cinema history. I highly advise you to watch it, but be prepared for anxiety, violence and stress, like in Gaspar Nohe's Irreversable. The actors are well known turkish artists, mostly coming from drama theater and drama education.

The 2nd movie is not as good as the 1st one. It's a bad remake, very violent but rather empty and amateurish compared to this one. But still watchable.

Turkish cinema is constantly maturing. This is one of the best explorations of the social divide and culture of envy present in modern Turkey. Inevitable comparisons are made to works of Haneke, particularly to Funny Games. The film does not have the virtuosity of Haneke, but it also does not have Haneke's patronising, barely disguised sermons against bourgeoisie. The middle class young people are not hedonistic, divorced from reality buffheads. They exist within a different reality from the nether class hoons that invade their world. Some left-leaning Turkish viewers that would like to see any city-dwelling Turk from a non-working class background as vermin will not be pleased. However, social strata in Turkey is not black and white anymore - if it ever were...

It won't be a spoiler to state that the violent scenes are difficult to watch and some might find those out of place in a film that is decidedly anti-violence. To me, the uber-realism of those scenes carried the subtext of the film: Do not kid yourself. Violence is ugly, brutal and it never leads to anything positive. There is no justification for it.

Thanks to the viewer that had recognized the directors at the end of the film. I would have missed that message if it weren't for him/her. Not that it would have made any difference to my assessment.