IMDb #131 Review: The Bandit (1996)

Source: Wikipedia

Revenge is never justified, unless it totally is. That's the lesson I grasped from this movie, Eşkıya, whose title contains characters that don't appear anywhere near my keyboard and whose lessons are even more elusive.

A Turkish sniper, the last of a borderline mythical breed called Bandits, emerges from thirty-five years of prison to track down his lady love. Guided by his razed village's self-described madwoman, he goes to look for his girl in modern Istanbul.

He can't even get off the train before he gets mixed up in organized crime.

A young thug, auditioning for the Turkish mafia (don't laugh, they're serious), entrusts a bag of suspicious good to the old bandit for safekeeping. Unwise, but the old man delivers. Eventually. Turns out the kid's raising 200 million cash (currency exchange rates are absurd) to bail his girlfriend's bro out of jail. Also unwise.

Meanwhile, the hopelessly optimistic old guy randomly rediscovers his mortal enemy. On crappy Istanbul daytime TV, under a different name, crippled by emphysema, drowning in wealth. He's also married to the Bandit's gal, who hasn't spoken a word in 35 years. More amazingly, the hero and obvious villain have a civilized discussion in the middle of a movie and then walk away.

Meanwhile times two, kid makes stupid decisions. Hustling drugs, holding back cash from his dealer, giving said cash to the girl he promised it to. All horribly stupid decisions that end in gunshots. The senile father/reckless son dynamic with the Bandit deflates somewhat considering how often his sage advice goes unheeded.

But the villains make the worst decision: screwing over the elderly pacifist with nothing left to lose. His advice unheeded, the Bandit ignores it himself and goes berserk. Takes a while to get there. But the results are worth it.

A few weird cultural hang-ups put me off. Certain mystical tidbits, like a leather pendant that "stops bullets." Also, the way the old men treat Keja, the woman. They fight over her like an object, and she just goes along with it. Married to a man she loathes, silent for three frigging decades and willing to go for more.

And before you ask, yes, apparently Bandits turn into stars when they die. Suck it up, NASA, or we'll cut your funding again.

121 minutes