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baris747
Reviews
Recep Ivedik (2008)
Cleverly designed piece of art
I was one of the people who did not find the concept of "Recep Ivedik" making a movie very attractive. I found myself to be wrong after watching the whole movie.
Very few movies have given me this unique feeling about my own country (Turkey) and my own people (Turks). I had the chance to get to know the character Recep Ivedik better in this movie. He represents a majority of my people, who are looked down to by the elite as hillbillies or rednecks because of their inability to adapt to the civil life. What most people fail to see however, is that a good heart may be hidden behind the curtains. Recep is such a person, who will go 700 km on foot to return a wallet or give his own car battery in order to help other people fix their car, or carry the toys he could not give to his childhood love with him at all times.
This delicateness and naiveness of Recep, who describes himself as "Agressive, has inferiority complex but behind the curtains a person similar to a kitten" is what makes this character so lovable. The movie gives lots of insight regarding the middle Anatolian lifestyle and the culture clash between people who have migrated into major cities from rural areas, just like Recep.
I loved the movie and I loved the character, and now I love my country even more, thanks to this movie, which is seen by many as 1.5 hours of continuous laughter. I laughed hard with most, but also had tears in my eyes every once in a while.
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
This movie broke my heart.
This is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. The story was interesting and I think that it is one of the topics that are extremely hard to express visually so my expectations were low. But the depictions of head trips and hallucinations were perfect. Also the quality of acting was quite high. I think that the storyline was a bit too pessimistic though and I think that there were several glitches. The sexual humiliation of Marion was not too realistic looking at the size of the device and that game that the two girls including the first timer Marion were forced to perform. Also there was a secret message of hate against black people stemming from the way Big Tim abused "Maid Marion". Also I could not understand why the main character kept injecting the heroine in his gangrene arm. Apart from that, it was one of the best movies that I have seen.
Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak (2006)
Plain Nonsense
I saw it yesterday at a local movie theater. As a turk, I think it is a depiction of anti-americanism run amok in turkey. The main reason behind this attitude is the thought that if we don't stand in solidarity with our neighbor (Saddam's Iraq) we would be the next to be hit. In addition to this came the economical damage caused by 1991 gulf war and America's prospects of establishing a kurdish state in the oil rich areas of Iraq where also many turcomen are deported from their villages. These prospects are explained in detail in the movie.
In reflecting the personalities of people from a different culture, this movie is very much like "midnight express". In midnight express each and every one of the turks in the movie was a sadistic villain. Likewise, Kurtlar Vadisi depicts all of the Americans as plain villains. Additionaly, the sight of American soldiers driving a Mercedes army truck from 60's is just hilarious. Also my personal belief is that the organ trading cannot be done officially, as is depicted in the movie. With Gary Busey and Billy Zane starring it is easy to see that it could only be a B-movie.
I hate this movie as much as I hate midnight express because it does not serve a useful purpose except for making it harder for different cultures to know each other and get along.
Some quotes from the movie: Doctor: You just can't treat those prisoners like that. They are people, not animals. Sam's assistant: I have more respect for animals than I have for those iraqis, sir.