Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) is a slow-burning, atmospheric crime drama about a night-and-day search for a buried body across the rolling steppes outside a small Anatolian town. A local prosecutor, a weary police commissar, a doctor, and a handful of officers drive with two suspects — one of them mentally disabled — trying to find the exact place where the victim was buried. What begins as a routine procedural unspools into a meditative examination of memory, guilt, routine, and the small cruelties and compassion of ordinary lives. If you watch this film you’ll experience long, carefully composed takes and a deliberate, patient pace that favors mood and character over plot-driven action. The cinematography makes the Turkish plains and the night woods feel almost like characters themselves: cold, expansive, and quietly beautiful. Conversations among the men drift from procedural questions to intimate confessions, dark jokes, and philosophical asides, revealing moral ambiguity and emotional complexity rather than neat answers. Expect an immersive, contemplative film that asks you to sit with silence and understatement. It’s less about solving a mystery than about witnessing how different people carry responsibility, shame, and boredom. The film rewards viewers who appreciate slow cinema, subtle performances, and striking visuals — a haunting, human study that lingers after the credits.

Actors: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Runtime: 157 min

Genres: Crime, Drama

6.8 /10 82 /100 7.8 /10 7.6 /10