Burning Days
Turkish film noir about a prosecutor charged with a rape case in a closed village community.
Emin Alper has chosen a highly political subject for his fourth feature film: the water crisis in rural Anatolia. Navigating his way through corruption, traditionalism and violence, the Turkish director paints a profound and populist portrait of his country.
Emre, a young, idealistic prosecutor with a strong sense of justice, is transferred to the small town of Yaniklar, which has been hit hard by a water shortage and is led with an iron fist by an authoritarian mayor. The young man very quickly finds himself faced with the corruption which infects all the local institutions, forcing him to question his fundamental belief in the good of the legal system. His only supporter in his struggle is Murat, the mysterious owner of the town’s newspaper, with whom he develops an ambiguous relationship, which is frowned upon by the local residents.
Going beyond the philosophical question of good and bad, Emin Alper denounces ‘the populist illusion’ which plays on people’s fears and plunges entire nations into poverty. The director uses the microcosm of the fictional town of Yaniklar to illustrate what is wrong with Turkish society.