Arsenevich: Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da (2011)

Érase una vez en Anatolia

La cámara se va acercando al vidrio de una especie de garaje, a través de él vemos a un grupo de hombres que ríen, charlan y beben en un ambiente amistoso, un trío de camaradas compartiendo un buen momento. Pero la cámara parece descubrir más de lo que aparentemente observa el espectador y se retira con rapidez de la ventana.

En la siguiente escena, en plena madrugada para que nos vayamos acostumbrando (de hecho la mitad de la película transcurre de noche), unos coches atraviesan la sublime estepa de la Anatolia turca. Los hombres ya no son tres y descubrimos que tampoco eran amigos. Uno de ellos ha sido asesinado y los otros dos, esposados y acompañados de la policía, unos militares, el fiscal y un médico forense, van a intentar localizar el lugar donde enterraron el cuerpo...

En Érase una vez en Anatolia, el director turco Nuri Bilge Ceylan pinta imágenes a través de un rompecabezas que examina la condición humana. La narración trata de un asesinato y la mayor parte de la película transcurre mientras se lleva a cabo la búsqueda de un cadáver. Los dos sospechosos acusados del crimen conducen al fiscal de la policía y a su equipo hasta el lugar del crimen, en medio de la nada.

Pero la película de Ceylan, que ganó el Gran Premio en Cannes en 2011, es mucho más que la búsqueda de un cadáver. Verdades eternas sobre la vida, la muerte, los hombres, las mujeres y el adulterio se revelan en una estructura narrativa poco convencional que se cuenta al revés. Hay largas secuencias con silencios y pocas palabras, del mismo modo que hay escenas en las que se bromea sobre lo trivial con tanta convicción como sobre lo profundo. El escenario remoto está bellamente retratado, dejando en el espectador una imagen indeleble de un paisaje que es tan implacable como las personas que viven en él.

Hay una conversación sobre ser despiadado y tomarse la justicia por mano propia. Hay otra que sugiere que si hay problemas, siempre hay una mujer implicada. Pero es la conversación entre el Fiscal y el Doctor la que capta nuestra atención, cuando éste se pregunta sobre el caso de una hermosa mujer que predice su propia muerte. ¿Cómo puede alguien morir sin motivo? El Doctor no puede quitárselo de la cabeza, argumentando que siempre tiene que haber una razón para la muerte. Estas son las cuestiones que se nos quedan grabadas en la mente a medida que transcurre la narración, con todos los detalles de la búsqueda y los hallazgos registrados mecánicamente. Es una película que merece verse.

-- Todo el texto es de Pavel Georgevich

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Kenan and Ramazan are two men who have confessed to murder, and Naci is the police detective who has been assigned to wrap up the details of the case. With several of his colleagues in tow, Naci heads out to the woods with the killers in order to find and recover the body. However, Kenan and Ramazan's memories about the night of the killing are foggy, and it takes far longer than anyone expected to arrive at the scene of the crime. Over the course of a long night, the men talk about many different aspects of life, and their conversation explores their attitudes about life in Turkey and the human condition in general.

Mesmerising cinema unfolds in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, as Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan paints imagery through a jigsaw examining the human condition. The narrative is about murder and most of the film takes place as the search for a body is carried out. The two suspects accused of the crime are leading the police prosecutor and his team to the crime site - in the middle of nowhere.

But Ceylan's film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2011, is much more than a search for a body. Eternal truths about life, death, men, women and adultery are revealed in an unconventional story structure that is told backwards. There are long sequences with silences and few words, just as there are scenes in which the trivial is bantered about with as much conviction as the profound. The remote setting is beautifully portrayed, leaving the viewer with an indelible picture of a landscape that is as unforgiving as the people that live within it.

The film begins by showing shapes and light through a frosted glass window. As the camera comes closer, we can see more clearly: a light and shapes are slowly revealed. Three men are eating and drinking over conversation. A television plays in the background. We do not hear their conversation and the sounds are muffled. One man walks to the window pane and peers out. There is peel of thunder. A dog barks. The man opens the front door of the house, and feeds the dog that is tied on a rope. A truck drives past. This is indicative of the kind of imagery that is in store in Ceylan's intriguing statement of observation.

It is sunset and the beauty of the sky's orange horizon is clearly seen on a vast landscape. The headlights of three vehicles shine brightly along the winding road of the harsh, isolated landscape. It is some minutes before we see the faces of the men whose detached conversations we hear. Gradually, we learn that that the bearded suspect in handcuffs is leading the team to an unknown site. They are a looking for a round tree. It is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Love Story plays on the car radio. They talk about buffalo yoghurt and other things. The convoy of cars drives impatiently from one site to the next. Tempers fray. The moon crosses the sky; the wind rustles in the long yellow grass. They go to a local village for a meal.

There's a conversation about being ruthless and taking matters into your own hands. There's another that suggests if there is trouble, there's always a woman involved. But it is the conversation between the Prosecutor and the Doctor that grabs our attention as he puzzles about the instance of a gorgeous woman who predicts her own death. How can someone die for no reason? The Doctor cannot get it out of his mind, arguing that there always has to be a reason for death. These are the issues that stick in our mind as the narrative plays out, with all the details of the search and the findings being mechanically recorded. This is a film that deserves your attention. It may be slow and the plot points obtuse, but the rewards are great.