Ward 72 (72. Koğuş) (translated)

72. Koğuş is a 2011 Turkish drama film adapted from Orhan Kemal's novel of the same name. The story unfolds in cell block number 72 of a prison during the 1940s, against the backdrop of the poverty and repression of the Second World War years. Drawing on the author's own observations from his time in Bursa Prison, the film centers on the lives of impoverished inmates convicted of various crimes, confined within four walls.

Through the honest and naive character of Ahmet Kaptan, the narrative portrays the power struggles, suffering, dreams and contradictions inside the ward. The prison, which functions almost like a separate world with its own rules and moral code, becomes a setting in which solidarity, dignity and human frailty are questioned, along with the inmates' struggle to hold on to a life that goes on outside without them.

Directed by Murat Saraçoğlu from a screenplay by Ayfer Tunç, the film stars Yavuz Bingöl, Kerem Alışık, Hülya Avşar, Songül Öden, Civan Canova, Ahmet Mekin and Nursel Köse. The novel had previously been adapted for the screen in a version remembered for Kadir İnanır's leading performance.