Director: Serif Gören / Yilmaz Güney
Cast: Tarik Akan, Halil Ergün, Meral Orhonsay, Semra Uçar.
Turkey 1982 / 111m
Turkish with English subtitles.
The notoriously brutal Turkish prison system undergoes a rare moment of compassion in YOL. Five convicts are given a week’s leave from jail so that they may visit their friends, families and lovers. Sadly, each of the men is confronted with tragedy, disillusionment or both upon arriving home. Writer Y¦lmaz Güney knew what he was talking about: he spent much of his adult life in prison for various political activities. Using the ‘limited-leave’ device as a launching pad, Güney uses the journey to savagely skewer many of Turkey’s antiquated sociopolitical attitudes, notably the subjugation of women.
