Recently, it has become almost impossible to find a new Turkish film that was not made under the influence of the greatest modern auteur there, Nure Bilge Ceylan. Under Ceylan’s obvious stylistic and thematic influence is the debutant Selman Nacar, who presented himself at the festival in San Sebastian with this moralistic drama. “Between Two Dawns” was also the debut film for Nacar, and as the name of the film suggests, the action of the drama, filmed in the classic Turkish realist style, takes place within 24 hours, that is, between two dawns. Kadir (Mucahit Kocak) is the younger son of the owner of the Ibrahim factory, which is now run by his older brother. The upcoming evening is special for Kadir because this young man who has just finished college is preparing to meet the parents of his fiancee Esma (Burca Gölgedar), but the day will develop in a completely unexpected direction after a factory worker is killed.
The worker suffered severe burns, and after Kadir and his brother take him to the hospital, they will immediately contact a budget-minded family lawyer in whose company they will inform the worker’s wife about the accident. The father and brother immediately prepared the cash with which they want to bribe the victim’s wife and trick her into signing a statement right away, while she is in a state of shock, claiming that she will not sue the factory because her husband is to blame for the accident. They claim that the man is a drunkard and that he did not comply with the prescribed safety measures, although it is obvious that the factory is in a very bad condition and that no one followed the rules of safety at work and that the older brother, who now runs the factory, did not invest in repairing the fatal machine even though it was recommended to him. If the wife does not sign the statement, it is certain that one of the three family members could end up in prison for a long time, and when Kadir realizes that he is the one who will be the scapegoat, the situation will start to get out of control.
Kadir will thus find himself torn between the need to do what is good for the family, take the blame and flee the country as suggested to him, but at the same time he is aware that he is not to blame for the accident. He is bitter and disappointed that his family will give him up and sacrifice him so easily, and if he agrees to that option, he is aware that his plans for marriage and life together with Esma fall into the water. Also, Kadira is consumed by the knowledge that his father and brother are acting so cynically and trying to put the blame on the unfortunate person who received life-threatening burns and are ready to do anything to save their own ass. “Between Two Dawns” was a good debut for this young Turkish filmmaker who put the main protagonist in a difficult moral dilemma and Kadir is aware that whatever he does, it will not end well for him.
