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Breath (Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun)

Breath (Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun)

Movie · 2009 · 11 people

The Turkish war drama Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun (Breath: Long Live the Homeland) was released on October 16, 2009. Levent Semerci's first feature, it was one of the year's highest-grossing films and returned to cinemas on July 23, 2010. Nominated in six categories at the 3rd Yeşilçam Awards, it won Best Film and Best First Film. At the 17th Adana Golden Koza Film Festival, Semerci won Best Director and Soner Caner Best Art Director.

The story follows a captain and his forty soldiers, assigned to guard a relay station on the 2,365-meter Karabal Hill in the southeast near the Iraqi border. The soldiers stand watch and queue for the phone to reach their families; the film traces their pain, daily struggle and solidarity. Mete Horozoğlu plays the captain, with Barış Bağcı, Doğukan Polat, İlker Kızmaz and Gökçe Özyol in the cast. The actors were chosen from conservatory students. A roll-call scene with the line "If you sleep, everyone dies!" drew heavy social media attention before release.

Mehmet İlker Altınay and Semerci adapted Hakan Evrensel's stories; Fida Film produced it on a budget of about two million dollars. The film was decided on after the 2007 Dağlıca attack and shot in 2008-2009 at an outpost built on Tahtalı Mountain in Kemer, Antalya.

DirectorLevent Semerci
Production companyFida Film
Breath (Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun) Breath (Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun)

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Cast

Birce Akalay Birce Akalay Actor · 42 years old The wife of Cpt. Mete İlker Kızmaz İlker Kızmaz Actor · 51 years old Srg. İlker Mete Horozoğlu Mete Horozoğlu Actor · 51 years old Cpt. Mete Barış Bağcı Barış Bağcı Actor · 51 years old First Lieutenant Barış Doğukan Polat Doğukan Polat Actor · 36 years old Doğukan Gökçe Özyol Gökçe Özyol Actor · 53 years old Prosecutor Burak Tamdoğan Burak Tamdoğan Actor · 55 years old Onur Saylak Onur Saylak Actor · 49 years old Sinan Tuzcu Sinan Tuzcu Actor · 49 years old Okan Avcı Okan Avcı Actor · 41 years old The dispatch rider of First Lieutenant Barış Engin Hepileri Engin Hepileri Actor · 48 years old Man in the Taxi

Also in the cast: Rıza Sönmez, Soner Caner (Soner)

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Through different eyes

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Nefes is less a fast action show than a film about waiting and tension. The confinement of forty soldiers keeping watch on Karabal Hill sits like a knot in your throat. It is no surprise the 'If you sleep, everyone dies!' line got so much talk before release. The 128 minutes and long, quiet stretches test your patience at times, but once the tension rises it is hard to look away.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

This film is not for young children. It deals with war, soldiers' suffering and loss, and there may be heavy, shocking scenes. For families with someone serving or about to serve in the army, it can be emotionally exhausting. If you watch with teenagers, stay with them and talk afterwards. For adults, it is a film that makes you think about solidarity and sacrifice.

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

Decided on after the 2007 Dağlıca attack, Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun is directly bound up with the public mood of its time. Soldiers queuing for the phone on a hill near the Iraqi border make visible the distance between the front and home, and the side of military service that reaches into families. Its actors, chosen from conservatory students, bring youth and fragility to the fore alongside the heroic narrative. Adapted from Hakan Evrensel's stories, the film reached a wide audience as one of the year's most-watched releases. That is why it can also be read as a document of its period.

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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