Propaganda

PROPAGANDA is based on a true story that happened in Turkey in 1948. The newly appointed customs officer, Mehdi, comes back to his native village of Hislinisar with an order from Ankara to build a border to separate Turkey from it's Syrian enemies.

The only problem is that the village's only doctor, teacher and prostitute live on the other side, therefore in Syria. Despite this huge mistake, the civil servants blindly obey Ankara's orders without informing the villagers. Soon, the families from the other side, who used to coexist with the other villagers, can only enter Hislinisar with a passport that they can't get. Just like the Berlin Wall, these fences will separate friends, lovers and even sheep. Mehdi has to learn to enforce the law at the detriment of his marriage and friendships.

This movie is hilarious. The ways that Mehdi and the villagers deal with this new border are really funny even though the impact it ultimately has on them is really sad. Overall it's a really refreshing movie.

I gave it a 9/10. I saw it in Turkish with french subtitles. If you ever get a chance to see this great Sinan Cetin film, please do so, it's worth it!

In 1948, the borderline in Eastern Turkey is drawn right through a small village. Friends and lovers are separated, blind bureaucrats are taking over and everyone - even the bureaucrats - has too deal with this new age they are not yet ready for, in their naive way.

I really loved this movie and in my humble opinion it is one of the best Turkish pictures ever. It depicts the warmth and passion of the Turkish temperament, although it is a sarcastic comment on stubborn bureaucracy, not only in Turkey but everywhere! The cast is great with the beloved Kemal Sunal (died much too early like all good people) and the wonderful Metin Akpinar. They both are comedians who are usually playing funny, often touching parts with a moral-lesson, like to learn what the really important things in life are.

It is indeed a realistic picture, because in the 1940's people who thought they were neighbors were separated this way. Everyone handles this situation in a very naive way; even the officers do not really know what a passport looks like, because everything is so new. As for the pregnant girl who is still accepted by her family although she is not married: I am sure even in those days there were people who were not so dumb and stubborn to put family honor above love for the family members. The father-character portrait by Akpinar is a simple but wise man, who is loyal to his beloved ones.

One last point: This is a modern movie about old Turkey, so you get a bit of both worlds. You find the positive stereotypes as well as the negative ones. Half the Turkish population are modern, western-oriented people, who are aware of their own culture, but also open to others. The fanatic-islamist people are stubborn and intolerant and as such a group you can find anywhere in the world, and they will always be there, as you see in this movie. We should end all prejudices for a better tomorrow! But with each passing day, this feat seems to be more out of reach than ever. What a shame!

It is a very touching movie that shows how good friends, families are forcefully separated by bureaucracy. As someone mentioned in another comment, it is a bit unrealistic that a pregnant girl especially in a middle eastern country is tolerated by family and friends, but this movie is really worth watching.

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.

This is a great film in its own right. I have seen quite a few Turkish films, and this is certainly one of the best. The dialogue is witty, the story-line touching and the historicity of the film touches an area many of us never think of - the development of borders through the middle east.

You can feel for Medhi as he struggles with the dichotomy he faces, the competing pressures make for both difficult choices and black humour. Though there are laugh out loud moments too.

Turkish cinema can be difficult for many Westerns, but this film is not one of these.

A great film - I promise you will enjoy it.