Biyograficim
The 80th Step (80. Adım)

The 80th Step (80. Adım) (translated)

Movie · 1996 · 12 people

80. Adım (The 80th Step) is a 1996 Turkish drama directed by Tomris Giritlioğlu and produced for TRT. It is adapted from a work by Mehmet Eroğlu, who also wrote the screenplay, and it is cataloged under themes of prison, confrontation and police. Shot in color on 35 mm, it runs 105 minutes and reached cinemas on December 6, 1996. At the 15th International Istanbul Film Festival it was named Best Turkish Film of the Year.

The film follows a group of former militants who meet again after the September 12 coup and call their past, and one another, to account. At its center is Korkut Laçin, who grew up in an orphanage, joined the militant movement at eighteen and was tortured. Hunted by the police, he flees the country and works as a deckhand on freighters in the Far East, but he is caught and extradited to Turkey. After serving his sentence he looks up Sedat, a friend from his youth who went into politics years earlier and with whom he has an old score to settle, and becomes involved with Sedat's wife. His story ends when Sedat's sister, once his fiancée, kills him.

Haluk Bilginer plays the prosecutor, with Zuhal Olcay as Lerzan, Levent Ülgen as Korkut Laçin and Derya Alabora as Aslı. Altan Erkekli appears as the deputy prosecutor, Hümeyra Akbay as the orphanage attendant, Emre Baykal as Hasan, Taner Barlas as Raoul, Civan Canova as Sedat, Tunca Yönder as Dehler, Aytaç Yörükaslan as Ali Bıçakçı and Meral Çetinkaya as Zeynep. Selçuk Yöntem, Uğur Çavuşoğlu, Münir Akça and Savaş Yurttaş complete the credited cast.

Behind the camera, Cafer Özgül produced and Zeki Demirkubuz served as production coordinator. Yavuz Türkeri was director of photography, Münir Nurettin Beken composed the music, Mustafa Ziya Ülkenciler was art director and Bilge Can edited. Hilmi Güver designed the titles, Ercan Yılmaz operated the Steadicam, Ali Salim Yaşar was chief lighting technician and Jale İncekol was first assistant director.

DirectorTomris Giritlioğlu
Production companyTRT
The 80th Step (80. Adım) The 80th Step (80. Adım)

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Cast

Hümeyra Hümeyra Actor · 79 years old Yetimhanenin hademesi Zuhal Olcay Zuhal Olcay Actor · 69 years old Lerzan Bender Levent Ülgen Levent Ülgen Actor · 64 years old Korkut Laçin Taner Barlas Taner Barlas Actor · 79 years old Raoul Selçuk Yöntem Selçuk Yöntem Actor · 73 years old Mesut Münir Akça Münir Akça Actor · 1951 – 2016 Savaş Yurttaş Actor · 1944 – 2002 Haluk Bilginer Haluk Bilginer Actor · 72 years old Prosecutor Derya Alabora Derya Alabora Actor · 67 years old Aslı Bender Civan Canova Civan Canova Actor · died at 67 Sedat Bender Altan Erkekli Altan Erkekli Actor · 70 years old Deputy Prosecutor Meral Çetinkaya Meral Çetinkaya Actor · 81 years old Zeynep Bender

Also in the cast: Uğur Çavuşoğlu, Emre Baykal (Hasan), Tunca Yönder (Dehler), Aytaç Yörükaslan (Ali Bıçakçı)

Titles sharing this cast

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Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Tomris Giritlioğlu's 80. Adım is one of those precious cases where the passage from literature to film is handled with care. Mehmet Eroğlu adapting his own work for the screen seems to have helped keep the spirit of the writing intact. Having Haluk Bilginer, Zuhal Olcay and Derya Alabora in the same cast is a reminder of how strong acting could be in Turkish cinema of the nineties. Münir Nurettin Beken's score adds a depth of its own. Harsh subjects like prison and reckoning do not always sit easily with me, but this film knows how to tell them in a human voice.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

In terms of production values, 80. Adım is an ambitious TRT production: shooting on 35 mm, Yavuz Türkeri's cinematography and the use of steadicam show a film reaching for a genuinely cinematic language. The author adapting his own work is an advantage for fidelity, but in translating literary narration into film it can at times lead to an overly verbal structure. Within 105 minutes, the web of characters around the prosecutor, Lerzan, Korkut Laçin and Aslı is wide, and some figures seem to pass through without being fully developed. Haluk Bilginer's and Zuhal Olcay's performances largely balance out that sprawl. The Best Turkish Film of the Year award in Istanbul was a meaningful recognition given the conditions of the time.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

80. Adım is a drama associated with themes such as prison, reckoning and the world of the police, which means it moves through the spaces where individuals meet the institutions of the state and the law. The return of a former militant who grew up in an orphanage, was tortured and was extradited ties the film to the September 12 generation's reckoning with its own past. Its production by TRT in the mid-nineties and its basis in a literary work can be read as an effort to bring serious issues to the big screen. Because it is about old friends settling accounts with one another, rather than a fast-paced police thriller, be ready for a period's reckoning with its conscience.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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