Çemberimde Gül Oya

The Noughties have been notable for the development on Turkish television of the dizi, or serial. Broadcast in lengthy slabs and interspersed with regular commercial breaks and on screen ads, the diziler can last anything up to three hours, from 20.00 to 23.00. Some private television channels find them so profitable that they broadcast one after another during daytime, early evening and prime- time.

Shot on minimal budgets, invariably in and around the Istanbul metropolis, the diziler are remarkably similar in terms of structure and form. They comprise a series of interior sequences, where characters are photographed in close-up or two-shot in shot/reverse shot sequence. The beginnings and endings of scenes are signaled through an establishing shot - a pan of the Istanbul landscape, or an aerial tracking shot swoops in towards the characters from the air.

Plots are usually highly similar, centering on love, conflict and familial strife. The generations are usually well represented, with sets of characters from the pensioner, the middle-aged, the young pro, the ingenue and the youngster age-groups. Some of the diziler might be historical in terms of situation, but the plots remain remarkably similar: love-affairs that ebb and flow, overcoming obstacles or foundering on the rocks of parental disapproval. Emotions are worn on the sleeve, and enhanced by deliberately atmospheric music reminiscent of similar material in South America, for instance.

The diziler are the modern-day equivalent of Yesilcam: cheaply-made melodramas with a series of stock characters and situations, filmed on a shoestring. They attract huge viewing figures, but are not really sufficiently differentiated from one another in terms of plot and theme to warrant serious analysis.

CEMBERINDE GUL OYA (THE ROSE AND THE THORN) ran for forty episodes between 2004 and 2005. It is notable for the fact that it was written and directed by Cagan Irmak, who later went on to have a successful film career. Students of his oeuvre will find the series fascinating, as it shows where several of his preoccupations came from: for example, a certain nostalgia for the Seventies and early Eighties (even though it was a time of military strife); an emphasis on sentimentality; and a largely superficial approach to characterization. On the other hand the dizi is notable for its use of shot/reverse shot sequences, zooms in and out for dramatic effect, and an emphasis on incident. The series shows how, unlike many of his contemporaries, Irmak's cinematic style is explicitly televisual in origin and should be treated as such. Thematically speaking he might be interested in Turkish history, but as a filmmaker he is more concerned with arousing viewers' emotions at a visceral level rather than prompting reflection on history. This is not a criticism; on the contrary, this style works very well with a certain type of movie. It is just very different.

Basically this film is reflecting on the times of Turkey in the 1970's, the anarchy, the fight, the power. These times are told by a woman and her experience to a reporter> her daughter which works for a news agency. These times which in political disorder affect confusion and similarities on everyones mind blinds them silence.! But a girl of a rich family finds it worth loving a different man than loving money>> like her father. But he was also in love with her mother, this girl is the woman in this day.. They experience the fight which they unknowingly accepted the day they met, in a street of scattering crowd and open fire

What happened to impossible loves? Is it really exist in these days? Especially between a man known as anarchist and the Turkish deputy's daughter. It is the love story between leftist guy (Mehmet) and also leftist primary school teacher (Yurdanur) by the early time 70's. We see also our times and watch old Yurdanur and Mehmet. Cleverly made scenes, Awesome outfits and environment but the music was poor for those nostalgic scenes. It tells us there is war between leftist and rightist before the military intervention . The story came out from first person by Yurdanur herself. She is sharing the story with her daughter and the spectator. Characters were well fit into story and reflected their feelings exact of that time. Special thanks to Çagan Irmak for making it and made us remember this sad times.

Çemberimde gül oya is a masterpiece. People who want to learn what happened in Turkey in 70's should watch it. Personally, I believe that most of the last episodes or last parts of the movies or films end in a bad way. But in this film, final episode was perfect because you understand that every character and every event is connected to each other and everybody is found by the main character. This makes you surprised. Besides, Çemberimde gül oya manages a person to cry and laugh simultaneously!!! Although its ratings were not that high, this film created its own fans. I want to say thanks to Çagan Irmak for directing such a film.

it's one of the best Turkish TV series ever. why? first, the director/writer of the series has not added anything that never took place in turkey, i mean it includes no lies, no exaggerations. second, it is all about Turkish people, the neighbor relations were completely accurate. third, the relationship of the lead characters, yurdanur and mehmet, was not all painted in pink; we could feel that they were real people who had to disagree on some things and have fights from time to time. they were in love, but they were still on earth! fourth, i could always feel that the whole story was written with sincerity, with a purpose to remind Turkish people of their past, and not just with a motivation of earning quick cash. i can go on and on like this, but i think the summary is;thank you cagan irmak! for feeling, and for sharing this with us.