Biyografi Dünyası
Istırap

Suffering (Istırap) (translated)

Movie · 1973 · 3 people

Nejat Saydam is the writer and director behind Istırap (also spelled Izdırap), a 1973 Turkish drama. Acar Film made it, Murat Köseoğlu produced it and Melih Sertesen shot it; it runs about 86 minutes.

It centres on the deadly struggle between a fortune-hunting stepfather and the foster son raised in his house. Adnan has raised Ali since childhood, yet he caused Ali's father's death and keeps treating the boy cruelly. Because his mother is ill, Ali puts up with it, never goes to school and grows up among the horses in the stable. When she dies, nothing keeps him with Adnan. Falsely accused of theft, Ali throws himself into a lake to die; Gül, who works at an entertainment tent, finds him unconscious. He joins the travelling funfair run by Ahmet and his family and tastes peace and affection for the first time since childhood. When the caravan stops in the town he fled, he gets into a fight to protect Gül, lands in the police station and faces Adnan again. The man who darkened his childhood means to darken his youth too.

The cast features Aytaç Arman (Ali), Necla Nazır (Gül), Münir Özkul (Ahmet), Mürüvvet Sim (Mualla) and Orçun Sonat (Adnan), with Kahraman Kıral as nine-year-old Ali.

DirectorNejat Saydam
Production companyAcar Film

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Cast

Necla Nazır Necla Nazır Actor · 70 years old Gül Aytaç Arman Aytaç Arman Actor · died at 69 Ali Orçun Sonat

More from this director

Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Istırap is one of those familiar Yeşilçam orphan stories that still manage to reach you. Ali, raised among the horses in a stable, finding affection for the first time in a travelling funfair carries the feeling I love most in the old films: the belief that kindness will one day open a door. Münir Özkul's presence alone is enough to warm that caravan, and Necla Nazır and Aytaç Arman bring the freshness of youth. Villainy drawn this openly may look too sharp to today's eyes, but that open-heartedness is exactly what audiences of the period went to the cinema for.

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

This one is heavy for watching with children. It deals with harsh subjects: a stepfather's cruelty, a false accusation of theft and Ali trying to take his own life. The fight and the police-station scenes aren't right for little ones either. For teenagers and adults, though, it's a touching story about love and solidarity. Fine to watch with grandparents who love old Turkish films and with kids in their teens.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Written and directed by Nejat Saydam, Istırap applies the melodrama template of its day almost to the letter: the cruel stepfather, the orphaned hero, redemptive love and the inevitable reckoning with the past. The predictability of the structure is its weakest point; events grow out of what the script needs rather than out of the characters. Even so, the travelling funfair is an interesting choice of setting. Moving between worlds, from stable to tent, from town to police station, is the kind of material that gives Melih Sertesen's camera visual variety. At around 86 minutes it also keeps the story from dragging. A faithful example of the genre, but not one that pushes its limits.

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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