Relentless Road (Amansız Yol) (translated)

Ömer Kavur's 1985 Turkish film Amansız Yol (Relentless Road) joins drama, crime and thriller in a road story built around a truck journey from Istanbul to Mardin. Kavur wrote the script with Barış Pirhasan and has said Wim Wenders's work influenced him. It runs about 90 minutes, shot in color on 35 mm; Kavur, Sadık Deveci and Atıf Yılmaz produced, with Delta Film and Yeşilçam Film among the companies.

The story opens when Hasan (Kadir İnanır), a truck driver long based in Germany, meets again, in Istanbul, his old lover Sabahat (Zuhal Olcay). Sabahat, however, has married Hasan's childhood friend Yavuz and has a daughter; her husband pushed her into dirty work. As old feelings revive, thugs start hunting Yavuz over money, and his wife is watched too. Hasan sets off with Sabahat and little Ayşe in his truck; the pursuit follows them down the road. Mine Çayıroğlu plays little Ayşe, Yavuzer Çetinkaya is Yavuz, and Mustafa Dik and Hasan Yıldız play the pursuers.

Uğur Dikmen composed the music and Orhan Oğuz shot it. At the 5th International Istanbul Film Days in 1986 the film was named one of the three best, alongside Züğürt Ağa and Adı Vasfiye. Zuhal Olcay won Best Actress at the 1985 Antalya Golden Orange for playing Sabahat.