9 (2002)

Cops question six people about the rape and murder of a beautiful vagrant

Director:

Ümit Ünal

Writer:

Ümit Ünal

Stars:

Ali Poyrazoglu, Cezmi Baskin, Serra Yilmaz

6 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ali Poyrazoglu	...	Firuz
Cezmi Baskin	...	Salim
Serra Yilmaz	...	Saliha
Fikret Kuskan	...	Tunç
Ozan Guven	...	Kaya
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Esin Pervane	...	Kirpi (Spiky)
Rafa Radomisli	...	Amerikali

Storyline

Scene: A poor neighborhood of Istanbul. A beautiful, young, homeless girl is killed in a brutal and gory murder. Nobody knows where she comes from, although there are many rumors. Six people from the neighborhood are interrogated by the police and the secret history of the neighborhood is thus revealed. 9 is a story about everyday fascism in the lives of ordinary people.

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish

Release Date:

15 November 2002 (Turkey)

Also Known As:

Dokuz

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Very interesting Turkish film but does not translate well into English

9 is a very "Turkish" film as it is based on dialogues/monologues mostly, so it makes it difficult for a "foreigner" to get the film. The characters use proverbs and idioms a lot in their speech; this provides a beautiful expression and perfect and natural atmosphere but unluckily these talks did not translate well.

The film is about "nothing is what it seems". It starts with a picture of perfect and happy district. A homeless young girl was raped and murdered there and some people of the district who are being interrogated in a dark room by the police insist that they are all good citizens, are loved by their neighbours, have a quiet life and have no relation with the girl and the murder. All say that such a criminal cannot be from the neighbourhood.

But as the gilded upper layer of their lives is scratched by questions of the police and the contradictory testimonies of themselves, we face something surprising: the ugly truth. But the question is "what is the truth?" Salim, one of the main characters, says it is such a story that your interpretation of it is the "truth".

"The film offers a critique not just of State fascism but fascism in daily life - in the lives of ordinary people..." suggests Umit Unal,the writer-director of 9 and his well-knitted script(which is a masterpiece of the Turkish script expert) tells us all murderers used to be ordinary people before.

To me, the film was awesome; smart retorts, very good actors, lots of metaphors, amazing music of ZeN, touching Yiddish song of Spiky and the frantic editing...I specially appreciate the performance of Cezmi Baskin(Salim), i think that it is the best in his career.