This used to be one of my favorite movies but it no longer is. When I was younger I did not bother trying to comprehend the underlying message of this movie, nor any other movie for that matter. The message of this movie is now perfectly clear to me: convicts in Turkish prisons are frequently maltreated and tortured. Turkish prisons are inhumane and the entire justice system is flawed, corrupt and unjust. Moreover, the director of this movie implicitly implies that all Turks are barbarous, intransigent and uncivilized. This is corroborated by the fact that all Turkish characters in this movie are evil and their intentions are always malicious. Also an attempt is made to defame Islam and to show it as a religion which is inhumane, barbaric and merciless. On the other hand, Christians are depicted as humane and infallible. The principal point of this movie is that the Turkish society is flawed and atavistic as its justice system shows no mercy towards drug smugglers, rapists and murderers. Many of these assertions may be true but it would be a gross overgeneralization and oversimplification to claim that all of this is true and that these injustices are unique for Turkey. The director of this movie should have done some research at home before he set out to criticize an entire nation. Consider some of these facts: U.S.A. still has capital punishment; it has been demonstrated in many cases that the application of the death penalty is racially discriminatory (much more blacks are sentenced to death than whites); in many states, minors and mentally retarded are sentenced to death even though this violates the U.S. constitution; the U.S. government incarcarates people without letting them know what they have been charged with and denies them adequate legal representation etc. (Guantanamo Bay in Cuba). If these facts are not indicative of a flawed and unjust justice system, then what is? In my view, it is extremely hypocritical and cynical not to judge our own actions and transgressions by the same standards we apply to others. This is a good movie but it would have been much better had it not been so severely biased and prejudiced.