Yol

Name	Yol
Caption	Poster of Yol
Writer	Yılmaz Güney
Starring	Tarık AkanHalil ErgünŞerif SezerMeral Orhonsay
Director	Yılmaz Güney Şerif Gören
Producer	Edi HubschmidYılmaz Güney
Music	Sebastian ArgolZülfü Livaneli
Runtime	124 min.
Language	TurkishKurdish

Yol (Turkish for "The Road" or "The Way") is a 1982 Turkish film. The screenplay was written by Yılmaz Güney, and it was directed by his assistant Şerif Gören, who strictly followed Güney's instructions, as Güney was in prison at the time. Later, when Güney escaped from prison, he took the negatives of the film and edited it in Switzerland. The film is a portrait of Turkey in the aftermath of the 1980 Turkish coup d'état: its people and its authorities are shown via the stories of five prisoners given a week's home leave.

The film has caused much controversy in Turkey, and was banned until 1999 due to Yılmaz Güney's involvement rather than its content.

Synopsis

Yol tells the story of several prisoners on furlough in Turkey. Seyit Ali (Tarık Akan) travels to his house and finds that his wife (Şerif Sezer) has betrayed him and works as a prostitute. She was caught by her family and held captive for Seyit Ali to end her life in an honor killing. Though apparently determined at first, he changes his mind when his wife starts to freeze while traveling in the snow. Despite his efforts to keep her alive, he eventually fails. His wife's death relieves Seyit Ali from family pressure and he is saved from justice since she freezes but he has an internal struggle and must return to jail.

Mehmet Salih (Halil Ergün) has been arrested for his role in a heist with his brother-in-law, whom he abandoned as he was being shot by police. His in-laws want nothing to do with him, and he is finally forced to tell his wife Emine (Meral Orhonsay) the truth. Emine and Mehmet Salih decide to run away and get on a train. On the train, they get caught in the toilet while having long-awaited sex with each other. They are saved from an angry mob by the train's officers and held in a cabin before being handed over to officials. There, a young boy from Emine's family who boarded the train shoots both Mehmet Salih and Emine.

Ömer (Necmettin Çobanoğlu) returns to his village. Being a border village, it has a struggle with the army due to smuggling. Ömer visits and arranges to cross the border to escape prison. Though Ömer is clearly determined, he gives up after his brother is shot dead while smuggling. Through his brother's death, Ömer has inherited the responsibilities of his brother's wife and children as dictated by tradition.

Each prisoner in the film suffers from a conflict that threatens his freedom, with tradition also imprisoning him.

Rights dispute

The rights to Yol are very disputed. Even during Yilmaz Güney's lifetime, there were big fights about the ownership of the film between Güney and Donat Keusch, the Manager of a Swiss-based service company called Cactus Film AG, who claimed to own the whole film himself. After Güney's death, the dispute escalated between Keusch and Güney's widow. When Keusch filed for bankruptcy with his Cactus Film AG in 1995, the situation got even more complicated and resulted in numerous lawsuits in Switzerland and France. The lawsuits still continue today. There are numerous sellers in the market claiming to be the sole owner of the world rights to Yol, and the film is offered in different versions through different distribution channels.

However, since the fights over the rights clearance have been going on for decades now, the film has become sort of public domain and can be viewed for free on GoogleVideo. A court in Zurich has asserted that Güney Productions in Paris is the current owner of the film and that Keusch's claims are illegitimate. But Keusch persists in selling the rights he does not have. The judges even doubted that the bankrupt Cactus Film would have had any rights in the film. This is the position asserted by the head of the Cinémathèque suisse.

Awards and nominations

1982 Cannes Film Festival, won FIPRESCI Prize

1982 Cannes Film Festival, won Palme d'Or

1982 Cannes Film Festival, won Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

1983 César Awards, nominated for César

1983 French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, won Critics Award

1983 Golden Globes, nominated for Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film

1984 London Critics Circle Film Awards, won ALFS Award

References

External links

Category:Palme d'Or winners Category:1982 films Category:Turkish films Category:Turkish-language films Category:Kurdish-language films Category:1980s drama films Category:Screenplays by Zülfü Livaneli Category:Films set in Turkey