"Kurak Günler" or "Burning Days" is a Turkish Turkish-language film from 2022 and I saw this the other day part of some special event that is linked to a (mildly) prestigious audience award. Lux is the name, but this is not the name of the movie theater where I saw it, even if it is a theater where I also always like to go, but still. Turkish films really do not come here too often, if I can even call it that as this is a collaboration between a total of six European countries and this may also partially explain the impact that this film got seen by quite a few already. The room was also fairly packed when I went. I am actually a bit surprised I never saw the film running in one of the theaters I usually go to, but I am also not sure if it has had a wide release already anyway. In any case, my country Germany is also one of the production countries. Actually, I can take this back that there are not many films from Turkey here because this is a very Turkey-friendly place where I live, but these films that do get shown at the big mainstream theaters are in 95% of the cases comedies and this one here is not a comedy by any means. I am not sure if I laughed once while watching. Or smiled at least. It is all about the drama.
But before we dive into the plot, let's take a look at the people who made this: This is the fourth film for writer and director and you can add a television series to that which was actually his most recent project before the shooting of this movie. He has his tenth anniversary now as a filmmaker, so good for him and kinda fitting that this movie here made such huge waves. He is almost 50 now, so was definitely a late bloomer, but he is blooming as strong as it gets now. He already scored awards attention with his previous works, but the way it went here with, according to imdb, almost 30 awards wins and another almost 20 awards nomination, it is clearly something else. The film's average imdb rating over 8/10 is also not too shabby. As some of the award recognition also happened in America, I am curious if we will see him direct a movie over there at some point, maybe not a big blockbuster right away, but at least a film with English-speaking actors and language. Time will tell. It is surely his most known work by now and it's probably gonna stay this way at least until he makes another film. The same can be said about the cast members here, even if none of them really scored a lot of awards attention, at least not outside of Turkey, but still. The overall impact is just huge. Just look at the praise from the Cannes Film Festival and also European Film Awards. I see another film was submitted from Turkey to the Oscars for the 2023 ceremony, but I am not sure if "Burning Days" was eligible back then or is eligible for the 2024 event then. If it is the latter, then we surely have a contender already and this film could have a good shot at becoming the first Turkish film ever to get nominated in the foreign language category or whatever it is called now. You know what I mean.
The lead actor is Selahattin Pasali and he is maybe also a name to remember. I feel like he is going to have a long career in the industry and not only in films from his country. In this movie here that runs for over 2.5 hours, he plays an idealistic public prosecutor who takes over work at a new place and runs into obstacles right away as the local population are not really too supportive of the man. This involves the idea of shooting firearms in the city when going hunting, but also things get more aggravated when a teenage girl is sexually abused, apparently against her will even. And the prosecutor turns into a suspect himself as he was part of the group that night that is attached to the crime. There are two men there in particular and you see them early on paying a visit to the prosecutor and they are all kind and courteous there and try to convince him to not go too harsh on them. I think this was interesting because it was a strong contrast compared to the one other man the protagonist meets for the first time when he goes swimming, the one who tells him that he should not go swimming there. It also seemed like a threat, even if there was a small possibility indeed that the other man was just worried about the protagonist's safety, but this encounter seemed much more unpleasant compared to the other one and there you see how fast things actually do change.
Look at how the relationship unfolds with the two other men: The meet for a little party and meal in the evening and seem to be getting closer and the protagonist even says he will maybe come and join them when they go hunting the next time, but something completely different was on the men's mind that night. Certainly nothing empathic. Then you also see the older guy, the one with the beard, talk to the prosecutor in a way that makes obvious that he does not like him, does not respect him and needs him gone. His younger buddy seems the more diplomatic from the two, but in the end when the townsfolk is literally chasing the prosecutor and ready to kill him, that more diplomatic guy had also lost all cautiousness and behaves like a wild animal, which you maybe would not have though earlier. It is all about the power in this situation. The older guy there seems to be in some kind of delirium really when we see him in this scene towards the end. The prosecutor there is in this house and the other ones are coming closer on their destructive path or actually they even chase them outside at the very end. The protagonist is also not getting any help from a local judge and this one was a female by the way and I liked that that the film does not just depict men as evil. Said judge suggested to the main character that he should let things rest and the latter comes up with arguments that make it obvious to the judge and also others on a few occasion that the crime must be solved and justice must be brought upon because otherwise the girl will be raped again and again. But these arguments cannot shake the old fundament in this town to the core and eventually the protagonist has only one choice, namely to run. He is accompanied by his friend there and the possibility that these two may be lovers or may turn into lovers was of course something that was also not appreciated and nobody wanted to see that in the Turkish countryside. We do not know for sure though. The main character at least had these instincts that he might get busy with women too, but of course he was drugged when he did, so we don't know exactly.
This is also not what the film is about anyway and that is a great thing. There were enough other areas where they (i.e. Alper) elaborated on convincingly enough the way I see it. This also includes the parts that deal with the difficult geographic in situation in Turkey, a country that always has to deal with earthquakes, water shortage and the big hole we see on several occasions and in an especially haunting fashion at the very end where the two basically got away safely thanks to it from the bloodlusty mob who wanted to kill them. And definitely would have I think it was a nice inclusion, but I still wonder how they got over there so quickly, even if it was a memorable camera shot. Nice way to end the film that probably also helped with the rating because many will remember this. What is more crucial this very moment though is that there was no way for the prosecutor to turn this place into an honorable place, but it stays rooted centuries in the past in terms of the legal situation. The next prosecutor will have to find his own approach there. Maybe he is one who will not pursue rape charges and thus exactly what the people there are looking for. Overall, it is a good, but not great film. Sometimes, it felt a bit too exaggerated with what comes the main character's way and a little more subtlety in terms of the script, but also score for example (and not just those two production fields) would not have hurt. I still think the writing and acting and direction in here is good. The thumbs-up from my side was never in doubt and I will also not be sad if it manages to win the Lux Audience Award, but it is still 1.5 months until we find out. I will not be cheering it on either though.
But before we dive into the plot, let's take a look at the people who made this: This is the fourth film for writer and director and you can add a television series to that which was actually his most recent project before the shooting of this movie. He has his tenth anniversary now as a filmmaker, so good for him and kinda fitting that this movie here made such huge waves. He is almost 50 now, so was definitely a late bloomer, but he is blooming as strong as it gets now. He already scored awards attention with his previous works, but the way it went here with, according to imdb, almost 30 awards wins and another almost 20 awards nomination, it is clearly something else. The film's average imdb rating over 8/10 is also not too shabby. As some of the award recognition also happened in America, I am curious if we will see him direct a movie over there at some point, maybe not a big blockbuster right away, but at least a film with English-speaking actors and language. Time will tell. It is surely his most known work by now and it's probably gonna stay this way at least until he makes another film. The same can be said about the cast members here, even if none of them really scored a lot of awards attention, at least not outside of Turkey, but still. The overall impact is just huge. Just look at the praise from the Cannes Film Festival and also European Film Awards. I see another film was submitted from Turkey to the Oscars for the 2023 ceremony, but I am not sure if "Burning Days" was eligible back then or is eligible for the 2024 event then. If it is the latter, then we surely have a contender already and this film could have a good shot at becoming the first Turkish film ever to get nominated in the foreign language category or whatever it is called now. You know what I mean.
The lead actor is Selahattin Pasali and he is maybe also a name to remember. I feel like he is going to have a long career in the industry and not only in films from his country. In this movie here that runs for over 2.5 hours, he plays an idealistic public prosecutor who takes over work at a new place and runs into obstacles right away as the local population are not really too supportive of the man. This involves the idea of shooting firearms in the city when going hunting, but also things get more aggravated when a teenage girl is sexually abused, apparently against her will even. And the prosecutor turns into a suspect himself as he was part of the group that night that is attached to the crime. There are two men there in particular and you see them early on paying a visit to the prosecutor and they are all kind and courteous there and try to convince him to not go too harsh on them. I think this was interesting because it was a strong contrast compared to the one other man the protagonist meets for the first time when he goes swimming, the one who tells him that he should not go swimming there. It also seemed like a threat, even if there was a small possibility indeed that the other man was just worried about the protagonist's safety, but this encounter seemed much more unpleasant compared to the other one and there you see how fast things actually do change.
Look at how the relationship unfolds with the two other men: The meet for a little party and meal in the evening and seem to be getting closer and the protagonist even says he will maybe come and join them when they go hunting the next time, but something completely different was on the men's mind that night. Certainly nothing empathic. Then you also see the older guy, the one with the beard, talk to the prosecutor in a way that makes obvious that he does not like him, does not respect him and needs him gone. His younger buddy seems the more diplomatic from the two, but in the end when the townsfolk is literally chasing the prosecutor and ready to kill him, that more diplomatic guy had also lost all cautiousness and behaves like a wild animal, which you maybe would not have though earlier. It is all about the power in this situation. The older guy there seems to be in some kind of delirium really when we see him in this scene towards the end. The prosecutor there is in this house and the other ones are coming closer on their destructive path or actually they even chase them outside at the very end. The protagonist is also not getting any help from a local judge and this one was a female by the way and I liked that that the film does not just depict men as evil. Said judge suggested to the main character that he should let things rest and the latter comes up with arguments that make it obvious to the judge and also others on a few occasion that the crime must be solved and justice must be brought upon because otherwise the girl will be raped again and again. But these arguments cannot shake the old fundament in this town to the core and eventually the protagonist has only one choice, namely to run. He is accompanied by his friend there and the possibility that these two may be lovers or may turn into lovers was of course something that was also not appreciated and nobody wanted to see that in the Turkish countryside. We do not know for sure though. The main character at least had these instincts that he might get busy with women too, but of course he was drugged when he did, so we don't know exactly.
This is also not what the film is about anyway and that is a great thing. There were enough other areas where they (i.e. Alper) elaborated on convincingly enough the way I see it. This also includes the parts that deal with the difficult geographic in situation in Turkey, a country that always has to deal with earthquakes, water shortage and the big hole we see on several occasions and in an especially haunting fashion at the very end where the two basically got away safely thanks to it from the bloodlusty mob who wanted to kill them. And definitely would have I think it was a nice inclusion, but I still wonder how they got over there so quickly, even if it was a memorable camera shot. Nice way to end the film that probably also helped with the rating because many will remember this. What is more crucial this very moment though is that there was no way for the prosecutor to turn this place into an honorable place, but it stays rooted centuries in the past in terms of the legal situation. The next prosecutor will have to find his own approach there. Maybe he is one who will not pursue rape charges and thus exactly what the people there are looking for. Overall, it is a good, but not great film. Sometimes, it felt a bit too exaggerated with what comes the main character's way and a little more subtlety in terms of the script, but also score for example (and not just those two production fields) would not have hurt. I still think the writing and acting and direction in here is good. The thumbs-up from my side was never in doubt and I will also not be sad if it manages to win the Lux Audience Award, but it is still 1.5 months until we find out. I will not be cheering it on either though.