The Bandit (Eşkıya)

Eşkıya (The Bandit) is a 1996 Turkish film written and directed by Yavuz Turgul, starring Şener Şen and Uğur Yücel and blending drama, thriller and crime elements. Watched by 2,571,474 viewers in the 1996-1997 season, it remained the highest-grossing Turkish film from 1989 until 2001 and is regarded as the turning point that carried Turkish cinema out of its 1980s crisis into the modern era.

The story follows Baran, a bandit released after thirty-five years in prison following his capture in the Cudi mountains. Discovering that his village now lies beneath a dam reservoir, he sets out for Istanbul to find the close friend who betrayed him and ran off with his childhood love Keje. On the train he meets Cumali, a young man raised in the backstreets of Beyoğlu, whose presence reshapes his journey. With music by Erkan Oğur, the film was Turkey's official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards, though it was not nominated.