Nefes can easily be argued to be the best war movie made in Turkey. Previews remind you Full Metal Jacket but i felt like it is in the mood of Apocalpyse Now. Technically it is not worse than any ordinary Hollywood war movie and its plot is well made in such a politically charged subject. According to IMDB: The film is “Story of 40-man Turkish task force who must defend a relay station.” which maybe attacked by Kurdish guerillas. The film gives in to some nationalist themes and nationalists may like the heroic stances but a clever viewer will classify the movie as an anti-war one. There are fantastic fighting scenes but psychological aspects are more dominant. There are great ethnographic insights- as some of my friends already know, I have a plan to write an etnographic piece on military service-such as a dialogue among soldiers about organ donation, soldiers’ phone talks with their relatives, soldiers’ self-entertainment events, an official waking up a soldiers and making a military sermon – which I witnessed that, too, officials are in need of talking-, Kurdish soldiers singing in Kurdish etc are great. My only objection is that there is nearly no swearing. Especially, it in the opening scene there had to be a hard dose swearing. Military talk is impossible without referring to female and male genital organs frequently:)
The preview: