Kahpe Bizans

It is an absurd comedy of Turkish history. It is written very clevery. For foreigners , it can be hard to understand some of the inside jokes about turkish culture. But I think lots of people loves this movie and watched it many times. I hope rating of it gets higher .

I love this movie and to me it is one of the best comedy works of turkish cinema history.

However if you are not familiar with Turkish culture this movie is going to be hard to understand. Consider it a parody of well known turkish classics and make sure you watched them. Jokes are layered and sometimes very subtle. Jokes are very hard to translate. There are a lot of puns that don't work in English. This is a sarcastic, gritty, campy take on every single cliche in Turkish cinema. These cliches reflect our society's insecurities and hangups, as well as weaknesses and strengths. So seeing a movie that makes fun of all these things indiscriminately was a fresh breath of air.

I also love absurd comedy. The more absurd the better for me. I legit cracked up watching this. The cast was great and the acting was good too.

Kahpe Bizans tells us the story of Yetis Bey(Cem Davran)and his struggle with Byzantian Emperor(Illetyus)in a humorous way. Illetyus dreams of his death and he is also told that a baby boy who is born will be killing him at the same day he wakes up from his dream. Illetyus orders his army to kill all baby boys born within a few days. At the same time, in another place in Anatolia, Super Gazi tells his wife to hide his children to a safe place to protect them from Emperor Illetyus' soldiers. She puts her baby in a basket and lets it flow with the river's water nearby. However, nobody nows the consequences of what is going to happen in the future in the palace. It has been promoted like a Hollywood movie in Turkey at the time with its trailer and famous ensemble. I felt so worried to miss the films premier as I had to move to the UK because that meant I wouldn't be able to see it in cinemas. Well, after watching it later on DVD, I must say I didn't miss much. It is not hilarious like it seemed in the trailer. Jokes are out-dated, actors are not matching perfectly together and scenario is messy. At some point it looks like a comedy soup. But salt and pepper is missing to make it tasty. Well, thats the expectation, isn't it? ** out of *****

Another bomb of laughter from the director Gani Mujde - a black comedy in the style of Hot Shots. Kahpe Bizans is full of ironic references to old Turkish films. The dialogues are clever and good examples of Turkish humour, but they will sound "Greek" to those who arent Turk. Why Turkish directors cannot overcome "locality"? Think of Asterix and Obelix versus Sezar: it is French, but still has something to say to all. Anyway if you have time to waste laughing continously, I recommend you Kahpe Bizans. 5/10.

Absolutely horrific film. Ameteurish and it isn't funny at all. Lead character played by Mehmet Ali Erbil is very annoying. Edits by E.T and star wars is just plain stupid.

Actor Yilmaz Goksal is the only good think about this movie. He should master his English and move to Hollywood. Hollywood can not find an actor with his qualities. Other than Goksal this movie is a garbage.

Director Gani Mujde is a comic writer and this movie is his worst written work to this date.

Music of Cem Karaca is another plus of this waste of money. Actor Sumer Tilmac also have some presence. Actor who plays the three sons has no talent what so ever.