Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s film centres around the search for a body, in Turkey’s Anatolian steppes. The film starts off with headlights snaking through the darkness; atmosphere built by the sound of wind rushing through the trees, as the protagonists have a fairly innocuous conversation about unpasteurised yoghurt. It is this atmosphere that is built up throughout the film (the majority of which takes place at night), as a thunderstorm rolls in and tensions mount.
In terms of narrative, there are essentially two stories which unfold. The first is the most obvious, as a group of policemen, a prosecutor and a doctor search the bleak wilderness for a corpse, with a suspect who becomes increasingly sympathetic. The second is far more subtle and centres on one of the main characters, fed to us piecemeal through a story he tells.
Stylistically, it’s definitely a European art film. The long takes, limited colour palette, close ups and lingering shots of wind rustling through fields of barley are indicative of a preference for visuals over narrative substance. This is certainly not the Tourist Office image of Turkey, but instead a bleak and deprived vision of a country. It is this aesthetic and pacing that makes the film so slow and deliberate – however, for many, it will appear too slow, particularly without a large narrative pay off after two and a half hours.