FRANCE
LE MUR The wall
1983 – 35mm – colourd - 107’
Direction: Yilmaz Güney
Screenplay: Yilmaz Güney
Cinematography: Izzet Akay
Editing: Sabine Mamou
Music: Setrak Bakirel, Ozan Garip Sahin
Cast: Tuncel Kurtiz, Ayse Emel Mesci, Berrichi, Nicolas Hossein, Isabelle Tissandier, Ahmet Ziyrek, Ali Berktay
Producers: Marin Karmiz
Production: Güney Film, MK2, TF1, Ministère de la Culture
SYNOPSIS
In Dormitory no 4 of the prison in Ankara, men and women, political prisoners and common criminals are gathered, but the attention is focused primarily on the youngest prisoners, always humiliated, beaten and tortured. Scarce food, windows without panes, lack of water, the spongers and, more than anything else, the hail of blows, they regularly receive sadistically, leads some guys among the bravest to rebel: the only aim of the revolt is to be transferred to another prison which, according to the promoters, can't be worse.
CRITICAL NOTE
“(…) It's a film which attacks and keeps on at its characters, at their faces, at their bruises, which dominates them (there are lots of high-angle shots) and caresses them. (…). As to the contents, in it there is nothing more than in any classic prison films, but there is more in the images, in the faces (…). The identification photos-shots that close the film leave the fixed mark of a gallery of unforgettable characters.” (Alberto Farassino, La Repubblica)
FESTIVAL
1983 Festival di Cannes: in competition
