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 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.

This is a great film in its own right. I have seen quite a few Turkish films, and this is certainly one of the best. The dialogue is witty, the story-line touching and the historicity of the film touches an area many of us never think of - the development of borders through the middle east.

You can feel for Medhi as he struggles with the dichotomy he faces, the competing pressures make for both difficult choices and black humour. Though there are laugh out loud moments too.

Turkish cinema can be difficult for many Westerns, but this film is not one of these.

A great film - I promise you will enjoy it.

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!

Based on a true story: in 1948, customs officer Mehdi has to formally set up the border between Turkey and Syria right through his home town. He is unaware of the pain he is about to create as families, languages, cultures and lovers clash and are ripped apart in a nation which feels as ONE. Furthermore, the new border also leads to the separation of Mehdi from his best friend Rahim who is the most important man in town: the only doctor.