Attilas '74

This is a true account of the days up to and after the events that shaped what Cyprus is today - the only country in the world that still has a divided city. This is a documentary made by a Cypriot director and told with an obvious Cypriot slant. To its credit, nearly all the main people involved in these events are given air time to say their thoughts on the subject, leaving the viewer with much food for thought. However, it shows a side to events that was avoided by foreign reporters and give a no holds barred account of what happened after the invasion. It may not provide easy viewing from a Turkish perspective, but invading another country kinda has that effect on things. Highly recommended.

The documentary is about the invasion of Cyprus in the year 1974 by Turkey. The film was made a year after the invasion and the impact of the war was still fresh. It presents an unbiased view, one that attempts to capture the precursors of the invasion, the impact of the invasion and its consequences. Some documentaries make you sleep with their hedonistic objectivity without ever immersing the viewer. If you like statistics and bar-charts look elsewhere. This film will make you feel as if you were there during the invasion. An excellent film by an excellent director.

A very powerful documentary, worth watching.

This movie is really for Greeks to see rather than the Turks. Having watched it with tension to address allegations, I am relieved that despite the single sided, far from objective narrative of the story, the director clearly acknowledges the fact that EOKA-B was a terror organization rather than a group of freedom fighters, and slaughtered people of their own blood. One must insist however that if EOKA-B was brutal to the Greeks, why the director was inhesitant to film the brutal use of force against the minority of the Turks. Mr. Makarios in this movie is very keen on giving numbers to identify percentages, as if the audience is idiot (just to show 6500 people is not small) but he refuses to comment that 18% of the population of the island equals to around 50 million people of the United States.

The director chooses to distort the history by omitting the details of the 1963 and 1967 and also wishes to sweep the illegal change of the Cypriot constitution by Macarios under carpets. The director makes no reference to the incidents prior to 1974 and just believes as if Turkey acted all of a sudden which is totally unrealistic looking at the slow motion capabilities of the Turkish army.

Though the director is right to blame the nationalist ENOSIS adventurers for the intervention, he fails to keep an objective eye on the matter and the documentary is turned into a propaganda and this is exactly why no body knows about this film.

Personally, I found it at least breathtaking watching scenes from life in Cyprus back in those awful days. In my opinion, Cacoyanis did not propagandize against the Turks, but against the external forces who had their own interests on the island. And by external forces I mean USA(CIA), Britain and their obedient followers like the Greek military coup generals and the Turkish regime (was it ever more democratic than a military coup?). Cacoyanis is not avoiding to point out the blame (and shame) of EOKA B. And when referring to Turks, we reckon he means the Turkish soldiers and not the Turkish-Cypriot people, who were till then living side by side with Greek-Cypriots. No one denies that Cypriots,be it both Greek and Turks, were the sole victims of this tragedy, but I don't think that Cacoyanis could possibly have a documented testimony from the latter at that time. I think it's a miracle that he had the chance and guts to make such a documentary in years of fear and uncertainty. But still he could have pursued the truth in a more complete form, by having some Turkish-Cypriots testifying their own experience.

I am not a Greek or Turk, I am a person who loves movies, and I loved Attila 74. The style of documentary film-making is fascinating and real. The film is blunt, to the point and devastating. It feels like you are there in the midst of war, suffer and grieve with the locals, you feel for their loss and suffering. The film connects with you no matter what nationality you are. It is almost impossible to judge history, since there are two sides to each tale, but a documentary like Attila 74, helps understand what went on or what went wrong. I felt it is an honest witness to the horrible events that shook the peaceful population of this great Island. Bravo Mr. Cacoyannis not only for your wonderful film, but for the courage to go there and record history. I recommend this movie with all my heart.