There (Orada)

Hakkı Kurtuluş and Melik Saraçoğlu wrote and directed Orada (There), a drama released in Turkey on December 25, 2009. Running about 96 minutes, it spends twenty-four hours with a scattered Istanbul family, a story of collapse centered on a mother, a father, a sister and a brother. Shown at many festivals worldwide, it drew middling scores on film sites.

The story begins when an elderly woman leaves her nursing home early one morning, and walks away, leaving her children a letter of last wishes. News of her death brings together two siblings who have not spoken in years. The sister, Neslihan, works in the human resources department of an insurance company; she cared for their mother for years and placed her in the home when she could no longer cope with her psychological troubles. The brother, long abroad in France, has rushed back. The pair first perform their last duties for their mother, then find their father, living in seclusion in the family house on Büyükada. Gathered briefly, the family finally says what it never could, and the film asks whether the loss might mend broken bonds.

Dolunay Soysert, Sinan Tuzcu and Erol Günaydın star, with Füsun Erbulak and Bahtiyar Engin also in the cast.