Yilmaz Güney – Agit AKA Elegy (1972)

adminDecember 29, 2018

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Synopsis:
Coban and his four comrades are smugglers who live in the bleak, inaccessible mountains. They are hard, pitiless men like the county they live in, whose daily commerce is in greed, danger, betrayal and murder.

Review:
In a short life of his,spent half of it in jail for political reason, Guney had managed to create a masterpiece after another, from every genre. Agit is a mix of Spaghetti western, eastern folk tale, a social conscious film about the forgotten outcast and poor of the country side, a metaphorical film about struggle against oppression that metaphor nature, and a nihilist film about loners who are doomed to death. It a genius film, there are so much to talk about, just take the use of elements of nature as a metaphor to Guney’s inner struggle, he live in a hill in which a slight noise would make the rocks from the mountains fall down like earthquakes upon him, he must live silently with nature, a lyrical poetry that uses music, nature and juxtapositions of images to its best use. Unlike many action films, Agit is slow, very slow and meditative which give it more of beauty, it captures beautifully the landscapes. I watched without any Sub and realized more than ever what a great visual director Guney is, simply magnificent.

— Karzan Kardozi (The Moving Silent)