Hacı Orman – Sedat Yılmaz
Interrogation draws two life stories from the dark labyrinths of power and examines the vengeful showdown between two young men, Nihat and Sarı, former friends who have become strangers. The film is a realistic social drama combining the intrigue of a thriller with elements of political tension. In following the dramatic change experienced by Sarı in particular, the narrative seeks to portray the confused and frightening states involved in treading the fine line between “executioner” and “victim”. The focus lies on the constant turmoil of human nature, on the battle between truth and lies, memory and imagination, life and death, betrayal and compassion, fear and courage. Nihat becomes a mirror to Sarı’s double personality, politics a mirror to the various guises of people dependent on the mechanisms of subordination, power a mirror to everyday forms of violence, and death a mirror to individual aspects of life.
To allow the audience to judge the two main characters impartially, the story of Interrogation is told alternately through the eyes and ears of Nihat and Sarı; the dramatic framework is therefore limited to what they see, hear and remember. At the same time, the narrative presents snatches of the past through the mental flashbacks that both characters periodically have. Besides linking different times and places, this device serves to expose the subjectivity and relativity of two different minds as they recall a shared past in very specific and individual ways, and to highlight the startling illusions associated with human memory. The winter setting of the film brings a number of visual opportunities (snow and fog among them), which facilitate producing variations of meaning. The film music is directly linked to the story content through a Walkman.
Physical violence is shown as little as possible in the story; in its place metaphors are favored which evince the human potential for violence buried deep down inside. Likewise, much of the imagery evokes the invisible power of silence, and words function to obscure the speaker’s thoughts as much as to elucidate them. With the characters, every effort is made to shed light on the invisible aspects of their personalities and to capture the changes occurring in their visible exterior. The dialogue and camera compositions will seek to emphasize that the spoken word is at least as meaningful as the unspoken, and equally that what is shown carries as much weight as what isn’t.