The Bandit

Baran is released after serving a 35-year jail sentence in Viranşehir. He returns to his Eastern Turkish home village and discovers how much has changed during his absence. The village itself has been submerged by a dam, signaling a new, unforgiving landscape.

Baran discovers that the man who betrayed him and caused his long imprisonment was his old comrade Berfo. Berfo had him arrested on Mountain Cudi and seized Baran's gold, paving the way for his own rise. The revelation fuels Baran's resolve to confront the past.

Baran watches news footage revealing Berfo as a wealthy magnate named Mahmut Şahoğlu. The startling contrast between the trusted friend and the powerful enemy underscores how much Berfo has changed. The sight stiffens Baran's determination to face him.

Baran spots Berfo's motorcade and is detained briefly before being released and brought to the mansion. The encounter exposes the distance between old loyalties and new power. Keje's vow of silence and her suffering loom over the confrontation.

Keje has taken a vow of silence to protest her forced marriage to Berfo, a sign of the old order's grip. Her quiet defiance deepens Baran's longing and highlights the personal costs of Berfo’s schemes. The vow adds emotional weight to Berfo’s crumbling empire.

On the train to Istanbul, Baran meets Cumali, a streetwise young man trying to dodge plainclothes police. Cumali entrusts Baran with a contraband item, asking him to return it at a specified address. This unexpected alliance begins under mutual caution and necessity.

Cumali grew up in Beyoğlu's alleys, a troubled youth who drifts through dives, gambling, drugs, and women. He becomes a courier for a local mobster, moving drugs and aiding in manipulations while skimming off proceeds for himself. His ambition is clear: climb the criminal ladder.

Cumali is informed that Sedat was not Emel's brother but her lover, and the pair flee after Sedat's release. This revelation adds another layer of deceit to the intertwined crimes around them. Baran and Cumali begin to realize how fragile trust has become in their world.

Cumali and Baran track Emel and Sedat, only to be abducted by the mobster's men and taken to a mechanics shop. Demands are made to recover missing funds, and Baran agrees to shoulder the debt to spare Cumali. Berfo's dishonored cheque becomes the flashpoint for escalating violence.

Cumali is mortally wounded and crawls to the rooftop of his hotel. Baran reaches him in time, but Cumali dies in his arms, a tragic toll of their violent world. Baran's resolve hardens as he contemplates further bloodshed to enact revenge.

Grief-stricken, Baran sinks into a brutal rampage, killing the ageing pimp Sevim, raiding Demircan's shop, and gunning down Demircan himself despite pleas for mercy. The killings demonstrate the extent to which his quest for payback has consumed him. He spares no one in his path.

Baran returns to Berfo’s manor to confront him for his duplicity. Berfo justifies his actions as love-driven and remains unrepentant, claiming Baran cannot commit such acts. Baran shoots Berfo dead, ending their long and toxic rivalry.

With pursuit closing in, Baran is cornered by the police. In a final act of despair, he loses his talisman and, believing it to be a sign, commits suicide by walking off a ledge. The village elder Ceren Ana gazes after a shooting star, signaling the passing of an eşkıya.

As Baran dies, the village elder witnesses a shooting star, a symbolic sign of the end of the eşkıya era. The film closes with a quiet reflection on vengeance and loyalty, suggesting Keje’s fate remains unresolved but the myth of Baran endures.