Nefes: Vatan Sagolsun (2009) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

Turkey 2009
Director: Levent Semerci
Cast: Mete Horozoglu, Ilker Kizmaz, Hakan Turutoglu, Hakan Bulut, Ekin Bulut, Muharrem Bayrak
Rating: -
Language: Turkish
Release Date: 16 October 2009 (Turkey)
Running Time: 2 hours 4 minutes

The Movie Review

Nefes: Vatan Sagolsun film still 1


NEFES: VATAN SAGOLSUN (The Breath)
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

In case that you're looking for a movie to be selected in your upcoming International Film Festival, then look nowhere else guys, this Turkish drama/war movie is undoubtedly a Festival material. That being said, general moviegoers who are looking for some Hollywood 'fun' in a war movie while munching popcorn, then I suggest you watch this only with modest expectation and open-mindedness. This is a movie of quality and it's definitely not the one to be enjoyed with your date.

The movie is set in year 1993, Turkey. Young Turkish soldiers are sent to Karabal Military Base to be located in Jandarma Karakolu (Gendarmerie Station). They are given orders to fight the opposing enemies from PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) led by the notorious man nicknamed Doctor (Riza Sonmez). Unfortunately, the soldiers are initially rather sluggish and unaware of the dangerous situation. The Captain of Infantry Commando, Mete (Mete Horozoglu), who has just recently lost his soldier is outraged seeing the soldier at the sentinel tower falls asleep. Capt. Mete then preps the young soldiers with various training, mentally and physically, to prepare any imminent deadly fight with Doctor and his fighters.

Levent Semerci, the director, and apparently the one who also produced, co-written and edited this movie seemingly opted to emphasize more on the drama aspect instead of the hardcore bloody boom bang war film. He's got talent indeed since this dramatic feature film is his directorial debut but he could already show how good a drama war can be. Levent also seems to hold dear and near to his first project. According to IMDB, the actors really endured rigorous military training, and their characters were also named very similar to their respective real names, and even the scenes where the soldiers phone to their parents back home were actually voiced by their real respective parents.

The Breath is indeed having a different breath than other war movies. At some point it almost becomes theatrical. The acting is excellent and we got to observe this carefully because each scene mostly lasts long. Unfortunately, I think the writer/director is so caught up with the story that those scene may seem to intensified and elongated for more general movie buffs.

The movie does also come with other flaws. The most prominent one is none other than the editing! More than 2 hours is just too long for this feature film, once the message is conveyed, there's no need to saturate that message-carrying-scene to the level that audience might think something like "Okay, we got it! Now can we move on?!" You can even go to the bathroom for a couple of times without loosing valuable part or dialogue. And please ignore the tagline... It's so unbelievably cheesy, c'mon... "If you fall asleep, you die?" Sure is not a good marketing strategy. Although it'd make sense if you've seen the movie.

The scene where Capt. Mete interrogates the female POW with steadily heightened emotion while being accompanied with the news on TV about the selection of Miss Turkey is top notch. It's very sad and contradictive, two women of same age with one of them is living a glamorous life and swimming in praises, while the other one is struggling wearing only dusty uniform and carrying weapons for something she believes in. And concerning 'the believe', I'm not really familiar with the Turkey and PKK conflict, but I could say that the story leans more to the Turkey side, but at least the writer gives the audience logic explanation to that. Again, I don't know which is which and what is what, I just simply lay out what I see for fellow moviegoers around the world.

But even so, just as I got bored and wondering "would I see some hardcore bloody boom bang?!" Whow, the ending scenes are stunning. Not like what I've imagined, the war scene is fast, brutal, and furious. But probably what makes it more intense is the camerawork and the great sound effects complete with all the explosions. And if you get to see this movie with good English Subtitle, then you would feel emotionally attached to the soldiers. Why? Because the movie indeed spends a good amount of time giving us the view of their everyday life, their emotions, and even their relationship with people back home. You would find that they are basically just ordinary young men fighting for their mother land.

All things considered, Nefes: Vatan Sagolsun is a movie worth watching as long as you don't expect for Hollywood stuff. And this movie is, once again, festival material.