The film, which tells the story of 40 soldiers in charge of protecting a relay station near the Iraqi border in southeastern Turkey, was adapted from the short stories Tales from the Southeast and Ground Minus Zero by Hakan Evrensel and is, according to Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emine Yıldırım, the first Turkish film that tackles, through an authentic perspective and convincing realness, the contemporary situation of the Turkish army and its long battle with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) .

[10] Thanks to cleverly edited teasers that barely gave any clue to the movie, a constant delay of the release date over the last six months and a nation overly sensitive to war, civil-military relations and nationalism, Emrah Güller, writing in the Hürriyet Daily News, states, Heated debates preceded the release of director Levent Semerci’s war drama “Nefes” (Breath) in chat rooms, Web forums, Facebook groups and mass media.

Ironically, he concedes, the release of advertisement director Semerci’s debut film put a halt to many of the discussions because the audience had a hard time pinning down the message of the movie and labeling it as positive or negative propaganda for the military.

Some, according to Today's Zaman journalist Mınhac Çelık, argue the timing of the highly publicized film’s release is critical because it comes almost simultaneously with the return of a small group of PKK members from neighboring Iraq who surrendered to Turkish authorities.

[13] Radikal executive editor İsmet Berkan, who considered the film a masterpiece with its realist characteristics, wrote, I can claim that it is the most beautiful and meaningful Turkish movie I have ever watched.

Following a slow start in which, according to Yıldırım, the film, "seems to launch into too much of an advertisement", "Semerci manages to create a stunning atmosphere of abandonment, fear and camaraderie", as, "we get a better inside look at these young men."

Though the film, which according to Yıldırım, "remains patriotic from start to finish", "does not aim to be political in the general sense," "what Semerci does is to directly put the viewer in the shoes of the commandos and make the audience confront a violent truth that it has already been aware of for the past 30 years but had never seen on screen in such a continuously graphic way".

"The problem," she continues, "is that this particular film gets lost in its own heroism while over-emotionalizing the predicament of the soldiers, and it also lacks a comprehensive and tight story structure while its political stance remains too murky".

Güller commends the cast by saying, Semerci’s selection of unknown names from acting schools around the country proves to be the right choice as no one character stands out, and it helps to amplify the sense of voyeurism into the lives of a real group of soldiers.

Semerci’s simply captures a group of scared young men ready to accept death because it’s the easiest option or, if they’re lucky, about to become damaged goods, scarred for life.

[11] Sabah columnist Emre Aköz, refuting claims that the film was anti-militaristic, said, The producers of the film, Levent Semerci, Hakan Evrensel, and Mehmet İlker Altınay, have used all the symbols of Turkey’s dominant nationalist ideology: Atatürk’s sculpture on the mountain at a height of 2,365 meters, the slogan of ‘Vatan Sağolsun’ (may the country survive), a compassionate big-hearted Turkish soldier who treats a PKK militant rather than killing her, the city dwellers who do not care about the young men defending the country.

Ambushes, raids, and attacks are going on; therefore it is impossible to raise criticism, make a comprehensive analysis or sum up the fight with a film about a bloody process in which there are thousands of victims and slain soldiers with their families.