The Bandit

The Bandit

The Bandit

The Bandit

After 35 years in prison, a mountain bandit goes to Istanbul to find the man who betrayed him and stole his lady. Nothing much new here, dredging up a lot of the usual gangster/revenge/fish out of water motifs, but it does a decent job of pulling you in and manages a certain freshness despite the familiarity of the material. Some of the larger dramatic scenes are painfully clichéd, but it's pieced together nicely and has some pretty good character moments. I get the feeling Turgul is a more talented director than a writer. Sener Sem (who I just realized was also in that lousy "Rascals" movie I recently watched) is a likable fellow, and his rapport with Ugur Yucel works well. Overall it's a somewhat mediocre film, but quite watchable with flashes of potential.

I'll start with one word - cliché. I want to apologize to all the turkish users who love the film as it probably holds a special place in the Turkish cinema history but... the movie is bad. I was wondering for a few years if I should see it and I finally did last night. I expected some hidden indie gem but what I saw was quite the opposite (keep in mind that this was made in 1996, not 1946). The whole story behind the film is way too simple (in a bad way). Annoying lack of realism at places, the acting is awful, some of the scenes are so absurd they are not even funny (the scene with the shooting or the drug dealing or the chasing or the running after women and willing to have sex)... The film is touching upon subjects as coming out of prison after a long time and discovering that many things have changed, young vs old, gangster life, love, revenge, age, death... and that's fine. But the characters were so thin. There is nothing new that you see or learn for the whole 2 hours. I felt some sympathy for Baran in the beginning but that was it. Cumali and his 'friends' are way too stupid and not realistic. (Wow that moment when he got some mad money to get the guy out of prison, WTF...) The only good thing in my opinion was the camera work in a few places. (The shot that goes through all 4 floors of the hotel seeing what happens in the different rooms to some of the characters) I'm giving this a 4/10 and I don't think I'll ever see it again after years and be like "Ah I didn't understand that when I watched it years ago, it's so much better now". This film does not deserve it's high rating. Cheers, Soulnd

After thirty five years of porridge a Turkish felon is freed with the aim of forfeiting you two hours of your precious existence, while in the meantime, you discover what must be a typo at IMDb that places this in its top 250 of all time - whereas it would be more at home in the slightly lower echelons - cultural differences perhaps.

I've seen this movie in the cinema ten years ago when I was younger and now, after seeing it again, I'm surprised that I still get the same emotions from it. In my review, I'll try to stay away of spoilers but I'll also give you a good treatment of the plot as well (just the big-picture). Movie starts as Baran, an old eskiya (a honorable bandit) is getting out of prison after 35 years of jail to find his village and his home under the waters of Firat river. He then learns that his confinement was due to an old comrade's betrayal, and that his comrade took away and married his lover, Keje. Baran comes to the biggest city of Turkey, Istanbul to seek his old comrade and maybe to take revenge... Due to an unlikely coincidence, he meets Cumali, a young man that has no family and is living in Istanbul, earning his life with criminal acts. Baran the Eskiya is not familiar with the city-life but Cumali is willing to help him because of his debt. Baran the eskiya has a deep character, despite his criminal past, he looks like a naive person in the metropolitan city of Istanbul. Despite that he is an uneducated person, he may be the most honorable and wise person in this big city. Sener Sen (Baran) and Ugur Yucel (Cumali) each gives spectacular acting performance and their talents combined with an intelligent script breathe life into this "Eskiya" myth. Baran is the last of the Eskiyas ! The movie has a slow start but towards the ending, the mood gets stronger. The movie reaches it's climax at the dramatic scenes to the finish. This is a story about honor and the power of love. This is a story about two strangers that are becoming tied emotionally, like the father and the son. A classic Turkish Action/Drama movie for all to see ! PS. also check out another Turkish movie "Kabadayi" by the same director/writer (Yavuz Turgul) and the same actor (Sener Sen).

I wanted to watch this film for years; but just yesterday I was able to. Now, I think that this movie is overrated. First of all, the screenplay and the shooting (especially in action scenes) have many flaws, which make the story unbelievable. The acting of Sener Sen and (partly) Ugur Yücel and Kamran Usluer is perfect; but what can we say about Yesim Salkim and Sermin Hürmeric? I think "Gonul yarasi (2005)" is slightly better (more believable) than "Eskiya (1996)" although it has lower rating. However, this film predates "Gonul yarasi" by almost ten years and it may be thought one of the first pioneering good Turkish films of the last decade. For this reason, I recommend seeing this film.

i can write just one comment about this movie. You must see that movie before you die. Magnificent movie from Turkey. "From the cinematography to the plot, to the fine acting, this film is a great example of the diversity of film-making outside Hollywood. A triumph from beginning to end, this film is pretty difficult to pigeonhole as it has so many elements to it. Is it a thriller, is it a reflection on one man's life, is it a buddy movie, is it a revenge movie? It's all this and more. It's got a great pace about it and the depiction of city and country is nicely juxtaposed in many of it's scenes. It's a while since I've seen this film, but there are so many scenes which have stayed with me. I love this film, but damn it's difficult to find." i am join in that.

This is one of the classics, unbelievable good play of one of the best actors in Turkey. Just fantastic. I only can say; just watch it first and than decide. Marvellous Excellent Fantastic Extraordinary Great Super Just Turkish. I don't know what to say, they say that I have to full ten lines, but I can't because I don't know what to say, so I will just fill some words on it like good bad evil better sunshine banana badman happy new year football soccer sucker sugar tree three and also like these . I can also can write all and you all, check this out in the league of the extra-ordinary gentleman, at least if you wan so, we can call it even