AllMovie

The notoriously brutal Turkish prison system undergoes a rare moment of compassion in Yol. Five convicts are given a week's leave from jail so that they may visit their friends, families and lovers. Sadly, each of the men is confronted with tragedy, disillusionment or both upon arriving home. Writer Yilmaz Guney knew whereof he spoke: he spent much of his adult life in prison for various political activities. Using the limited-leave device as a launching pad, Guney uses Yol to savagely skewer many of Turkey's antiquated sociopolitical attitudes, notably the subjugation of women. Forced to direct the film by proxy while still imprisoned (official director Serif Goren merely followed instructions), Guney completed editing the picture in Switzerland, where he'd escaped from his oppressors. Three years after production began, Yol was honored with the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival.