Crime

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

CrimeDramaThriller

A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.

Year

2011

Duration

2h 37m

IMDb

7.8

Trailer

Cast

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Director

Muhammet Uzuner

Doctor Cemal

Yilmaz Erdogan

Commissar Naci

Taner Birsel

Prosecutor Nusret

Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan

Driver Arab Ali

Firat Tanis

Suspect Kenan

Ercan Kesal

Mukhtar

EE

Erol Erarslan

Murder Victim Yasar

UA

Ugur Aslanoglu

Courthouse Driver Tevfik

Murat Kiliç

Police Officer Izzet

SK

Safak Karali

Courthouse Clerk Abidin

ES

Emre Sen

Sergeant Onder

BY

Burhan Yildiz

Suspect Ramazan

BY

Burhan Yildiz

Zanli Ramazan

NO

Nihan Okutucu

Yasar's wife Gülnaz

CD

Cansu Demirci

Mukhtar's Daughter Cemile

Kubilay Tunçer

Autopsy Technician Sakir

SÜ

Salih Ünal

Hospital Cook Hamit

AI

Aziz Izzet Biçici

Restaurant Owner Kazim

CA

Celal Acaralp

Pharmacist Saim

Ebru Ceylan

Writer

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Writer

Ercan Kesal

Writer

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Comments

10 comments

Abdel-oubaidMar 20, 2026

DiNov 23, 2025

🌸Marie Omega🌸Sep 12, 2022

For fans of Ceylan, this film is definitely recommended: it is long, slow, very well shot, and has some commendable scenes and themes. Yet, of Ceylan's four films: Distant, Climates, Three Monkeys, and this movie, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is merely good. Though parts of Three Monkeys are flawed (esp. during the first half), it's a strong film. And Distant is likely still the finest of the lot. I don't find this movie to be that much of a departure for Ceylan. Finally, as with all of his movies, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia requires repeat viewings to truly appreciate its depth and richness. ***Spoilers*** Is it me or did the guy playing the dead guy move his fingers a bit at one point? I could swear that his thumb or index finger twitched after they pulled him up from his shallow grave.

⛓🖤مشاعر مبعثره🖤⛓Sep 12, 2022

The worst episode of Tom & Jerry would be much better to enjoy than this "much-wasting-time & strongly-drawning-eyes-to-sleep" movie. If you want to waste your valuable 150 minutes in life, still anyhow, you'd better look at a painting than seeing this movie. You don't need any spoiler for this review, because the film has spoiled many things in vain. Move on, and just find a better movie to enjoy.

Akram HosnySep 12, 2022

the most thing i like in any movie is it's story and the conflict between it's characters.Conflict is present and shows the qualities of each character, but unfortunately the story is very weak and not interesting at all.even if any excitement is present elongation and stretching of the scenes make it boring more and more,some scenes may be of no value and no need for its existence. May be one reason for boredom in the movie is the emergence of the problem in it's beginning which is a murder then you will spend more that hour and half watching a very traditional boring search done by group of men in countryside. Even there is no soundtracks or songs in it. but actors were good and i said actors because if u see casting you can't find except one actress that appear in only one scene. finally it was boring longer than it should be don't watch it

Okoro Blessing Nkiruka.Sep 12, 2022

The film is slow but, Each and every character is well made, well described and beautifully portrayed. And i think that justify the film's lenght. If you want to watch something rather different from other police films I highly recommend it.

👑Royal_kreesh👑Sep 12, 2022

Nuri Bilge Ceylan is one of the most popular Turkish director and we can say "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" is his mastership periods work. Ceylan, because of his photographer background, usually prefers visual expression to verbal one but in "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" we can see the successful examples of both expression methods. Ceylan's use of the images success clearly stand out in "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da". In "Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da" Ceylan tells a story of resemblance that occurs as a result of town life. All of the acting are excellent but I want to emphasize Fırat Tanış's(suspect of murder) performance, his performance is so reel and impressive. Either scenario or acting or images are excellent.

Nekta! 💖Sep 12, 2022

In the countryside in Anatolia, Turkey, officials search for the place where a confessed murderer has buried his victim. The search is difficult and the lives of the officials are revealed in private conversations. The film is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan who did a superb job in the film "Distant" ten years before. He uses the same approach in the "Anatolia" film which includes long takes which might seem mundane but are more often fascinating as interesting details are revealed in the subtlety. The current film doesn't fully justify its length (over two and a half hours) and the decision of a major character at the end seems odd. However, there is much compassion given to all characters who have had difficult pasts while simultaneously making the body search intense. The uniqueness of the style makes the film worth seeing even if this is not to all tastes. - dbamateurcritic

skawngurSep 12, 2022

I usually search and watch movies that get high ratings on IMDb, simply because it's a trustworthy source of information about movies. When I saw 8,5 rating on this movie I said "Hey, I NEED to watch this!" and rushed to it! Now, I gotta say, I've never slept watching a movie before. EVER. I'm a film lover... and this movie made me sleep. I think that the high ratings are from people who think that if they give a high rate to a "not common" movie, it means that they are cult and intelligent. They are wrong. This movie is defined by one word: BORING. Maybe, if I didn't see the ratings and had no expectations on this movie, I would give it a 4 or a 5. But I had high expectations and because of that, this movie disappointed me. One word: Boring. One (my) rating: 1.

Dame gnahoreSep 12, 2022

Nothing happening here except bit of empathy, professional skills, nature, and realistic story. But nothing interesting, unusual, extreme, of to look forward for. Just ordinary murder, crime, investigation. Even all episodes of CSI TV series are more interesting. I wanted to watch this because I thought it is about Bosnia, but looks like has nothing to do with Bosnia, just Turkish film. Even Taken 2 which happens in Turkey although hollywood is much better, in fact perfect compared to this. Looks like we need more english movie, and less foreign.