Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Law of the Border Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 13, 2017

Lutfi Akad's "Law of the Border" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include a filmed introduction by Marty Scorsese and new video interview with filmmaker Melvut Akkaya. In Turkish, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

On the border

The bulk of the events that are chronicled in this film take place in a remote area on the Turkish-Syrian border where various gangs of smugglers control the traffic of goods and animals. The Turkish army has a small base in a nearby village, but there are not enough soldiers to stop the gangs and no one is even wasting time thinking about it. The base commander (Erol Tas) has also come to terms with the reality that many villagers have become smugglers because it is the only way they can feed their families.

The film follows closely the leader of one of the gangs, Hidir -- played by arguably the greatest Turkish director ever, Yilmaz Guney -- who is gradually forced to live his life according to two entirely different sets of standards. Initially, he appears as a quiet strategist who takes risks only when absolutely necessary and does his best to be fair not only with his men but with his clients as well, which is why the majority of the people see him as effectively representing the law of the land. This of course does not sit well with the base commander who understands perfectly that the more popular Hidir is, the weaker he and the law he represents become. An opportunity arises to even the playing field when the village leaders agree to build a school that will supposedly give the kids proper education and later on help them support themselves. The commander quickly develops a relationship with the future school teacher (Pervin Par) who needs his support and then approaches Hidir to see if they can manage to coexist without stepping on each other’s toes. At exactly the same time, however, some of Hidir’s rivals decide to set him up and destroy his gang by targeting the commander and unleashing chaos in the area that they can later on blame on him.

Lutfi Akad’s Law of the Border is the type of film that would have never made it to American shores -- and almost certainly a lot of other big international markets -- had it not been for Marty Scorsese’s The Film Foundation, which initiated its restoration after another filmmaker, Fatih Akin, lobbied for it to be saved from extinction. The entire restoration was based off of a rare print that was kept by the daughter of one of the film’s producers because all original elements were apparently destroyed after the military coup in Turkey in the early 1980s.

The visual style and atmosphere of Law of the Border seem quite similar to that of the various films the Italian neorealist directors shot between the 1940s and 1960s. Francesco Rosi’s epic Salvatore Giuliano, for instance, not only has a similar stylistic appearance but actually touches upon plenty of the same themes that define Akad’s film. Indeed, in both films the stories about the outlaws are essentially pretexts that allow Rosi and Akad to visit rural areas where ordinary people are forced to find ways to survive while their traditional way of life is gradually but fundamentally altered by government forces and political processes that they can’t control. So they document historic shifts while observing their effects on the native people from a very specific angle.

There is more melodrama in Akad’s film but for the most part it seems necessary as it highlights the contrasts between people like Hidir and his men who are pretty much isolated and stuck in the past and the school teacher and the commander as they are looking forward to transform the village and with it quite possibly the border area. And this is where the film becomes really interesting, at least from a Westerner’s point of view, as at the same time it also reveals two contrasting ideas of what the ‘new’ in a country like Turkey ought to represent.

Law of the Border Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Lutfi Akad's Law of the Border arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The release is sourced from a new 2K restoration of the film which was essentially made possible only because the daughter of one of the film's producer somehow preserved a positive print that remains the only surviving element. (Apparently, during the military coup in Turkey in 1980, the original film elements were destroyed). Unfortunately, was also either badly damaged or stored improperly and as a result plenty of scratches, cuts, damaged frames and transition issues are basically retained. There are also obvious drops in density and clarity, as well as contrast and brightness issues that have further destabilized the integrity of the visuals in certain areas. The good news is that even with such uncharacteristic source limitations plenty of fine detail is retained and there are even large segments with pretty decent fluidity (see screencapture #5). Rather surprisingly, the overall grading is also quite consistent. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Law of the Border Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Turkish: LPCM 1.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.

Clarity and at times even depth are actually quite good, but from time to time there is some noticeable unevenness. Again, much like the quality of the visuals, the quality of the audio depends entirely on nature of the surviving elements. The important thing that I wish to make clear is that even with the inherited limitations there are no enormously distracting anomalies.

Law of the Border Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Martin Scorsese - in this short video introduction, director Martin Scorsese quickly explains why and how Law of the Border was restored by The Film Foundation. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 1080p).

• Melvut Akkaya - in this new video interview, filmmaker Melvut Akkaya explains what makes Law of the Border a special film and discusses the careers of its director, Lutfi Akad, and star, Yilmaz Guney. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2017. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 60-page booklet featuring essays by Phillip Lopate, Dennis Lim, Kent Jones, Fábio Andrade, Bilge Ebiri, and Andrew Chan, as well as extensive technical credits.

Law of the Border Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have seen some of the films that Yilmaz Güney has directed, but I was completely unfamiliar with Law of the Border in which he plays a conflicted smuggler. The film is quite interesting as it reveals plenty of similarities with the work of the Italian neorealists and shows Turkey during a transitional period looking for a new identity, in a way very much as the country is at the moment but in an entirely new environment. The film looks a bit rough in high-definition, but the restoration credits that are provided by Criterion make it quite clear that had it not been for Marty Scorsese's efforts and The Film Foundation, it was probably only a matter of time before it would have been completely lost. Law of the Border is included in the Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, No. 2 Blu-ray box set. RECOMMENDED.