Newly appointed to the small town of Yanıklar, a young prosecutor finds himself being pulled into a political conflict during his first criminal investigation. A film by Emin Alper, starring Selahattin Paşalı, Ekin Koç, Erol Babaoğlu, Erdem Şenocak, Selin Yeninci, Sinan Demirer, Nizam Namidar, Ali Seçkiner Alıcı, Eylül Ersöz, Onur Gürçay, Mehmet Kervanci, and Hatice Aslan.
KURAK GÜNLER
BURNING DAYS
Emin Alper
(2022)
Young prosecutor Emre (Selahattin Paşalı), newly appointed to the small town of Yanıklar, seeks guidance from Zeynep (Selin Yeninci), the town’s long-time judge, on how to politely decline the mayor’s dinner invitation. Zeynep, however, encourages Emre to accept the invitation. She explains it’s a well-established custom in Yanıklar, and attending social events like this won’t interfere with what he’s trying to accomplish.
At his office, Emre receives an unexpected visit from Şahin Öztürk (Erol Babaoğlu), the mayor’s son and a prominent lawyer, and Kemal Gürçay (Erdem Şenocak), the town’s dentist. They come bearing a gift, a welcoming gesture for the town’s new prosecutor. But the courtesy is just a front. What they really want is to observe Emre closely, read his reactions, and figure out which side he’s on.
Later, Emre drives to a nearby lake just outside town and dives into the cool waters, seeking relief from the sweltering heat. There, he runs into Murat Körükçü (Ekin Koç), the town’s shrewd newspaper publisher. Murat’s presence feels unsettling, his motives unclear. Murat cryptically warns Emre to be careful, mentioning that the previous prosecutor disappeared without a trace during the murky groundwater trial.
The water trial revolves around the mystery of massive sinkholes that have recently appeared in neighboring towns. Experts believe groundwater drilling may have caused them. While Yanıklar hasn’t had a sinkhole yet, no one knows if or when one might appear.
That evening, Emre dines with the town’s mayor, Selim Öztürk (Nizam Namidar), and his son Şahin. Selim is campaigning for re-election on a promise to solve the town’s water shortage through groundwater drilling. But there’s a problem: a sinkhole appeared just outside of town, which led the previous prosecutor to file a criminal lawsuit.
Şahin deliberately pushes Emre to drink his special homemade raki. Kemal joins them after Selim leaves. Murat also briefly comes over, claiming he heard an unfamiliar voice from his nearby house. As they’re drinking, a young Romani woman named Pekmez (Eylül Ersöz) arrives and starts dancing with Kemal and Şahin. Emre eventually gets drunk and passes out.
Rakı is Turkey’s national beverage. It is typically served with seafood or meze (small plates of appetizers). Two methods are used to produce Turkish rakı. The first method uses raisins and other grapes. Yeni Rakı is made from raisins, and Tekirdağ Rakısı is made from grapes. Yeni Rakı has an alcohol content of 45% ABV and contains 1.5 grams of aniseed per liter. Tekirdağ Rakısı also has an alcohol content of 45% ABV but contains 1.7 grams of aniseed per liter. Rakı is traditionally consumed with chilled water on the side or partly mixed with chilled water and brown sugar. Dilution with water causes rakı to turn a milky-white colour, similar to the louche of absinthe. This phenomenon has resulted in the drink being popularly referred to aslan sütü (‘lion’s milk’).
The next morning, Emre awakens in his bed, hungover, with little recollection of the previous night’s events or how he returned home. He is notified by the police of a sinkhole has reached the outskirts of Yanıklar, which he visits. The police also inform him of another incident, that of a gypsy girl who was assaulted and raped the previous night. Yavuz (Ali Seçkiner Alıcı), the girl’s father, claims that the police have failed to protect his daughter again and allowed her to be raped multiple times.
One evening, Murat comes over to Emre’s house with evidence proving the geological reports for the water trial have been falsified. Murat is afraid that if he publishes this in his newspaper, Selim will use it to his advantage in the upcoming election. Emre is skeptical at first, suspecting Murat is just using him as a pawn to protect his own reputation. But Murat convinces him that doing nothing will only hurt the people of Yanıklar.
Determined to find out what really happened at Şahin’s house that night, Emre asks Murat if he heard any screams or unusual sounds, since Murat lives nearby. Murat says he went to bed early and didn’t hear anything unusual. But he admits he was woken up again by Emre’s voice. To Murat’s surprise, Emre has no memory of being outside, crying loudly, or their conversation that night. Murat suggests Şahin may have spiked Emre’s drink, which would explain the blackout. What Emre doesn’t realize is that this is only the beginning of Şahin’s carefully orchestrated political scheme.
Written and directed by Turkish filmmaker Emin Alper, KURAK GÜNLER is a political drama thriller that grips viewers from beginning to end with suspense and intrigue. I found myself eagerly anticipating each twist and turn in this morally ambiguous political arena where opponents ruthlessly eliminate all obstacles, regardless of the cost.
While I typically find flashbacks in films unnecessary unless they serve a real narrative purpose, the flashback in this film is brilliantly used to build suspense. The protagonist’s blackout, likely drug-induced, gives the film a reason to show the viewer fragmented pieces of his memory, leaving us to piece together and anticipate what comes next. This ambiguity adds to the film’s psycho-thriller atmosphere, as both the protagonist and the viewer question whether his memories are real or imagined, triggered by the witness’s claims.
KURAK GÜNLER (BURNING DAYS) premiered at Festival de Cannes on 23 May 2022. The film was theatrically released in Turkey on 9 December.
