Abluka

Armored vehicles rumble through the outskirts of Istanbul and shatter windows of cinder block homes as they pass, bombs explode in the night, trash fires burn, attack helicopters roam the skies and soldiers with machine guns shout at checkpoints. After twenty years in prison this is the environment that Kadir enters. His parole is granted on the condition that he become an informant for the police. Thus Kadir begins to gather clues about terrorist activities from trash bins, a woman's muffled scream in the darkness and a lone motorcycle fleeing from authorities. Kadir's brother Ahmet lives in the same area. Ahmet was never in prison and yet his existence is just as bleak as that of his brother. Ahmet hunts stray dogs for a bounty and leaves poison for them, or anything else that might chance across it, in the streets.

and people, like the stray dogs, are cast with suspicion and hunted down. This is the world of Ahmet and Kadir. In such darkness, mistrust and chaos their enemies are not just those around them, but also themselves.

While the film is fiction, it mirrors the real situation in Turkey. "Everyone is sitting in their holes and sniping at each other," said the director "and the neighborhood and its people are caught in the crossfire." This film about the Turkish underground is tense, dark and brooding. There are multiple conflicts going on and fear, distrust and conspiracy-thinking are rampant. The director wisely lets the audience determine what is real and what is not. The images are gloomy yet luminous in what they reveal about human nature. I wish the director was able to use sound and music as well as the images. The film is the winner of a jury prize in Venice. Four and a half of five stars. Seen at the Toronto International Film Festival 2015.