Reha Erdem keeps making exceptional movies in Turkish cinema. "Hayat Var" meaning "There is life" in Turkish, Hayat (Life) is also the name of the little girl that is the main character. The English name comes from the doll her father gives her that sings the song "You are my sunshine". Both titles are ironic, because the little girl's life sucks and there is no shine whatsoever.

Hayat has one of the most dysfunctional families ever on screen. Living in a barrack on the coast of Bosphorus with her father and her bedridden grandfather. Her father does smuggling and pandering in his little fishing boat, her grandfather is in bed cursing all the time, her mother left and married a cop maybe because her husband had sex with men and his father was a sick fuck. You cannot grow up to be normal in this family and Hayat was not an exception. She doesn't talk much, she mumbles songs all the time, she spends time with the neigbour woman who is "too caring" and she gets free candy from the store where she gets molested.

The movie has one of the most interesting soundtracks that fits the movie perfectly. The director uses fine examples of arabesque music (a kind that always talks about pain and mostly popular in suburbs) and after one point the songs become the narrator. Bosphorus is one of the main characters in the movie and the director makes you really feel it not only visually but by the high sounds he uses skillfully.

This is a very depressing movie showing the ugly face of the corrupted society. It's not one of those movies that aims to make you cry, instead it makes you think and makes you realise what kind of a world you are living in, it makes you feel ashamed because you are sitting in the comfortable seats of a nice theatre knowing that there are actually this kind of lives out there.

rebell22 / flixster.com