Review by l_rawjalaurence

CANAKKALE 1915 isn't a great film, to be honest; rather obvious CGI effects cannot obscure the fact that there are few actors and a minimum of props available. There are a few obvious anachronisms: the British commanders are played by Turks with American accents talking about "the get-go" rather than "the beginning" of the military campaign - a phrase certainly not in use in 1915. But these are minor quibbles in a film that not only celebrates the unity of the Turkish nation, with everyone - men, women and children - playing their part in the war-effort, but suggests that success in battle came from a shared sense of purpose: no one was going to colonize Anatolian territory. With God's help, and a considerable amount of military know-how from Mustafa Kemal - later to become Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic - the Turkish army succeeded in their campaign against apparently impossible odds. The film suggests that national unity is as important today as it was nearly a century ago, as a way of defending oneself against invaders. At times we understand just how important such values as patriotism, the family, and religion are to members of the Turkish nation - values that, in parts of the west at least, are often overlooked.