Yet no matter how much we grieve over our environment and circumstances nothing will change. What is important is not to be defeated, to forge ahead bravely. If we do this, a path will open before us." Daisaku Ikeda
"Eco-village" is the story of a bunch of eco-activists, who decide to settle down in a village on the Aegean coast far away from the bustling cacophony of the metropolitan life. All they want is to restore peace and serenity in their life and reunite with Mother Nature. To build up a commune next to a village, they buy up as much as they need from villagers. From donkeys to unused land and household stuff, the villagers sell everything they can at a high price. Everything is fine and dandy for the local villagers until the village is selected to be a potential site for a coal plant. While this means guaranteed employment for the villagers, their "artsy-fartsy tree hugger" neighbours are well aware of the value of their pristine land which is too precious to be sacrificed to greed and irresponsibility. The whole comedy relies on the fight between these two villages. Even if it sounds like a good comedy, Eco-village is more than a comedy. The story is indeed real. Turkey currently generates about 80% of its electricity with thermoelectric plants. Its other principal power source is hydroelectric dams. While developed countries like Japan deem it necessary to discuss from scratch their current basic energy plan and reconsider adding renewable energy and energy saving as two major pillars in their energy production, it's really unfortunate that a developing country like Turkey is thinking of building fossil-fuel power stations and nuclear power plants. In that sense, Eco-village does its best in helping environmental awareness. With its highly funny dialogue (at least for a native Turkish speaker), memorable, traditional Turkish songs and amazing cinematography it succeeds in leaving its imprint on your mind but, in Turkey there is more to this picture than meets the eyes. Take the Akkuyu facility which is set to begin soon in Mersin, for instance. Environmentalists worry that the plant could be prone to the same kind of disaster that hit the Fukushima plant in Japan last year. In the recent protests however, you would not see an understanding minister as in the movie. Imagine security officers collecting Greenpeace t-shirts which are considered seditious.(yes,that actually happened) According to the prime minister Erdogan, Turkey is determined to provide some 10 percent of its electricity need from nuclear facilities by 2030. Yüksel Aksu may have wanted this movie to be as humanitarian, tolerance-promoting and awareness raising as he can so he may have left politics out of this but reality is harsh and politics has so much to do with it.
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