Propaganda

Well another Box-Office Film in Turkey: Propaganda. I think it was one of the films in which you realise that your work is not always so important as your friends. Especially when it's your friend from your childhood and your son is going to marry his daughter. The movie had sacharastic Fun and some Drama in it which is a mark for Sinan Cetin. Well watch the Movie and see it for your self. I give it a rating of 9 points.

I liked this movie in general. It is funny and it mocked of bureaucracy in particular. Anyhow some things were not really realistic. I can't imagine that in a such rural society in west Asia a pregnant girl before marriage would have been so tolerated as in this movie! It shows also some interesting aspects like the arid nature of this region and the nature of its people. I spent a nice time in this movie. I encourage that more movies from that relatively unknown region of the world (middle east- west Asia) should be made

It is a very touching movie that shows how good friends, families are forcefully separated by bureaucracy. As someone mentioned in another comment, it is a bit unrealistic that a pregnant girl especially in a middle eastern country is tolerated by family and friends, but this movie is really worth watching.

PROPAGANDA is based on a true story that happened in Turkey in 1948. The newly appointed customs officer, Mehdi, comes back to his native village of Hislinisar with an order from Ankara to build a border to separate Turkey from it's Syrian enemies.

The only problem is that the village's only doctor, teacher and prostitute live on the other side, therefore in Syria. Despite this huge mistake, the civil servants blindly obey Ankara's orders without informing the villagers. Soon, the families from the other side, who used to coexist with the other villagers, can only enter Hislinisar with a passport that they can't get. Just like the Berlin Wall, these fences will separate friends, lovers and even sheep. Mehdi has to learn to enforce the law at the detriment of his marriage and friendships.

This movie is hilarious. The ways that Mehdi and the villagers deal with this new border are really funny even though the impact it ultimately has on them is really sad. Overall it's a really refreshing movie.

I gave it a 9/10. I saw it in Turkish with french subtitles. If you ever get a chance to see this great Sinan Cetin film, please do so, it's worth it!

I watched the movie on Cd last night and cannot believe again the poor handling of the topic by the most-pretentious director of Turkey who just happens to be hosting a sopa-opera-style TV show where separated couples are brought together (tears to my eyes...). The director has the notorious background of imitating Hollywood style and making films which do not have the depth a work of cinema should have in order to be considered as a work of art. My criticism for "Eskiya" applies to this movies also: The movie is more a critic of the Turkish bureaucracy rather that a commment on the Southeastern life. The film is quite unrealistic and it seems as if the degree of such an unrealism is the director's struggle to add some comic relief, a funny dimension to the movie. However what happens is a bad mixture of failed surrealism (yes.. remember the barren landscape and Colorado-runaway-plot and pregnant-but-acceptable-girl) with far-fetched social commentary. The film ends with the most ridiculous eway it could do. You cannot help but ask what will happen when they break the border. You do not leave the theatre relieved but rather with a more troubled and worried mind. What's more I guess the performance problems of Kemal Sunal is much more serious that that of the film itself. He seems to have ended his career artistically with this movie ( I do not mention Cumbul and El Roman who even did not start serious artistic careers at all). His acting lacks enthusiasm and is artificial. Do not expect to see the Saban performances. I could go on forever talking about the gaps in the plot, errors in cut and badly done act and cinematography problems. At the bottom this movie is a good example of how you can start with good actors, a good story, a good director of photography, nice setting but end up messing them all. The director Çetin's appearance and his mock-Kurdish speech later mixed with English cuss-words reveal that the movie is not serious at all. Sorry for those who liked it but this is just another Sinan Çetin moviewhich tries to reach fame with a quick gathering of few popular names rather than focusing on the artistic and cinematographic quality.