Propaganda (1999)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Sinan Cetin

Writers:

Sinan Cetin (writer)
Gulin Tokat (writer)

Release Date:

5 March 1999 (Turkey)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Based on a true story set in 1948, customs officer Mehti is faced with the duty of formally setting up the border between Turkey and Syria...

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Family | Father Son Relationship | Frontier Life | Frontier Town

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Kemal Sunal	...	Mehdi
Metin Akpinar	...	Rahim
Meltem Cumbul	...	Filiz
Rafet El Roman	...	Adem
Meral Orhonsay	...	Sahane
Ali Sunal	...	Mahmut
Nazmiye Oral	...	Azamet
Müge Oruckaptan	...	Nazmiye
Berfi Dicle	...	Melek
Kenan Baydemir	...	Hamdi
Nail Kirmizigül	...	Kopuk Yasar
Turgay Aydin	...	Cemil
Cem Safran	...	Abuzer
Zaven Cigdemoglu	...	Deli Selami
Baycan Baybur	...	Sergeant

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish

Color:

Color

Certification:

France:U | Germany:6 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Hislihisar, Hatay, Turkey

Company:

Plato Film Production

Another typical Sinan Çetin movie, pretentious and pseudocritical...

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.