I Saw the Sun (2009)

In the southeast region of Turkey, the Altun family lives in a small mountainside village plagued by a 25-year war, making their daily life a hellish struggle. As the war continues to ... See full summary »

Director:

Mahsun Kirmizigül

Writer:

Mahsun Kirmizigül

Stars:

Mahsun Kirmizigül, Demet Evgar, Murat Ünalmis

6 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mahsun Kirmizigül	...	Ramo
Demet Evgar	...	Havar
Murat Ünalmis	...	Mamo
Cemal Toktas	...	Kadri
Erol Demiröz	...	Haydar
Altan Erkekli	...	Davut
Emre Kinay	...	Musto
Menderes Samancilar	...	Cuma
Serif Sezer	...	Gülistan
Ceyhun Fersoy	...	Service Elemani
Ali Sürmeli	...	Nedim
Yigit Özsener	...	Lieutenant Caner
Cansu Aktay	...	Delal
Sarp Apak	...	Soldier Ahmet
Zabit Arslan	...	Ekrem

Storyline

In the southeast region of Turkey, the Altun family lives in a small mountainside village plagued by a 25-year war, making their daily life a hellish struggle. As the war continues to intensify, the family is forced to migrate west to the city of Istanbul. While Haydar and Isa Altun decide to stay in Turkey with their young children, Davut Altun and his family migrate north to Norway, enlisting the help of smugglers. They eventually reach their destination and find work in a supermarket, but life as refugees proves relentless. Back in Istanbul, Haydar watches over the family as his wife undergoes an operation due to pregnancy complications. Their son makes friends with a group of transvestites, helping him to understand why he has felt different all of his life. While liberating, his newfound identity is seen as a disgrace to the rest of his family, leading him to flee from the abuse it produces.

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Plot Keywords:

man crying | crying | gun | washing machine | brother killing brother | 

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Taglines:

Children here don't shape their own destiny.

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Genres:

Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Turkey's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign-Language Film category.

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Goofs

At the starting scene you can see 2 attack helicopters those are Mil Mi-24 helicopters (Russian made) and Turkey doesn't have helicopters like this ones.

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Soundtracks

You Owe Me
Lyrics and Music by Raga Oktay

User Reviews

War in the City

There is no war in a city here, it's during unrest let's call it. If you are not familiar with the situation Turkey and the Kurds are having, you want to read up on that. It's not necessary to understand the movie/follow the story. It might be interesting to have this as a backdrop though to refer back to.

It's about a family in troubled times as you can imagine. One that has not only to face outside danger, but also has quite some turmoil inside the family. Feelings get hurt, but there is also violence especially with a thinking that may seem very backwards to a lot of people. Sometimes that is used for comedy (when it comes to technology or the "wonders" they achieve) but this is mostly a drama, with high stakes for every one involved. It's not easy to chew on and there are quite a few bumps along the road, still this has the right ingredients, it just needed a bit of a better direction and less confusion in parts

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish Norwegian Kurdish

Release Date:

13 March 2009 (Turkey)

Also Known As:

I Saw the Sun

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$26,477,630

Company Credits

Production Co:

Boyut Film

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1