DESPERATE ROAD (AMANSIZ YOL), 1985

Türkiye | DCP, Color, 97’ | Turkish
Director: Ömer Kavur
Cast: Kadir İnanır, Zuhal Olcay, Yavuzer Çetinkaya, Mine Çayıroğlu

After years of working in Germany, Hasan returns to Türkiye as a truck driver and reconnects with his former lover Sabahat and her husband Yavuz in Istanbul.

When Yavuz leaves stolen money with Hasan and flees, Hasan sets out on a journey from the west to the east of Türkiye to get Sabahat and her young daughter Ayşe away from their pursuers. Inspired by Kerem Şahin’s short story Dead Ends, the film blends crime and melodrama to construct a dark tale of reckoning that breaks from the conventions of classic Yeşilçam narrative. Kavur turns the road into a psychological itinerary where the characters confront their pasts and disillusionment. The performances of the late Kadir İnanır and Zuhal Olcay lend a powerful gravity to the film’s fragile and unforgiving world.

The Desperate Road was restored by the Istanbul Culture and Arts Foundation (İKSV) with the support of Zurich Insurance.