Vizontele

Seventies... A small town in the Eastern parts of Turkey... A change in the lives...A sudden change... A new invention called "vizontele"(television) in the town...And a new quest for the people of the town...To operate this new invention... Yilmaz Erdogan, together with the well chosen casting gives a very good performance in reconstructing the tragic-funny events that took place in many of those small towns... The location, the shooting, the directing, the casting, the screenplay all made this the best Turkish movie ever, which in a sense was reflected in the records it broke in terms of box office... Congratulations Erdogan....

When i first heard about that Turkish movie i have a lot of doubts about it. The script did not sound interesting to me. The fact that i have seen Uzak, an other movie from Turkey (one of my favourites also) helped me a lot to take the decision to watch it. From the first time i realized that this movie is a masterpiece. A real comedy, a real drama. No fake reality, no fake emotions. Everything flows in a perfect harmony. The music, the picture, the characters... Every character in this movie is so unique that you have the feeling that you have met him. You don't have to know Turkish to understand the movie, characters speak with their expressions. Music, life style and the beautiful wild nature fits so perfect together.

This movie, is a true gem. A masterpiece that presents a real culture. You don't have the right to miss it.

This movie broke (by far) all time box office records in Turkey and it was highly regarded by critics. It appears all critiques at IMDb so far are also quite positive. But, I have several reservations about this movie. One of the first is also expressed by another reviewer. The script is more like a theater play than a movie; it is really a series of sketches, similar to those you would find in some TV series (MASH in the US comes to mind). Second, and maybe this was an unrealistic expectation on my part, is the absence of a commentary. Somehow I expected a deeper social expose or a commentary about TV entering into social life in rural areas, especially in Eastern or Southeastern Turkey. It turned out the Gevas, Van locale played no specific role. The movie could have taken place in any town in Turkey. TV changes lives in profound ways everywhere, especially in places such as Gevas which I felt was missing in a big way. Third is what I would consider a number of historical errors or omissions. The year is obviously 1974, specifically July 1974. I don't think this was a time when the Turkish (TRT) TV network extended into small towns via transponders yet, especially in Eastern Turkey. At the time even daytime Medium Wave radio reception could not have been as flawless in that area as depicted in the movie. The story about a two-member non-technician TRT crew delivering a transponder without installing it and the equipment being essentially ready to be plug-and-play is not realistic. This is an entertaining movie and maybe that is good enough for many people but based on what I have read I was somehow expecting another Camdan Kalp.

Turkish cinema is successful only in two genres, drama and comedy, unfortunately. However, in this two genres, there are some masterpiece level movies, I must say. Vizontele is one of them in my opinion, as a great harmony of these two genres. It is the beginning of a new era in Turkish cinema which is dominated by the actors and actresses of this movie in the following decade. The cast of the movie is so to say an 'All-Star' squad of acting containing plenty of master degree acting artists, which is very hard to be encounter again in the future. There are lots of notable performances without a distinction of lead role or back role, some of which are performed by Erkan Can, Köksal Engür, Cem Yılmaz, Cezmi Baskın, Şafak Sezer, Zerrin Sümer, Tolga Çevik, Salih Kalyon, Selahattin Taşdöğen, Sinan Bengier, Erdal Tosun, İclal Aydın, Tuncer Salman, Bican Günalan, Şebnem Sönmez, Serhat Özcan and of course the lead artists Demet Akbağ, Altan Erkekli and Yılmaz Erdoğan. This movie has gifted so many quotes that are used even today in Turkish people's daily conversations. In this manner, it is possible to claim that Vizontele has already became a cult Turkish movie.

I entered this movie, expecting an over-rated, far-from funny, horribly acted, unrealistic load of hyped-up trash. Imagine my suprise, when it turned out to be a magnifecent piece of art, worth praising for hours without end. This is cinema art in it's best moments. Alright, I'm exaggerating, but Yilmaz Erdogan has done a terrific job with the story, the characters, and most of all the editing and cinematography. Erdogan has created magic with the camera, and has created a believable, realistic movie. Like a Coen Brothers movie, Vizontele is done so neatly, that one mutters curses during the final 15 minutes, cursing at the irony of the entire plot and ending. I've been living in Ankara for the past 4 years, and my knowledge of Turkish is now almost as good as my English. I sent out mail to all my friends back in the States, recommending this movie. Catch it- and catch it subtitled. For some odd reason, the greatest movie-producing country of all time, conjures up some of the worst dubbings in history. Watch it, and keep in mind that this not the usual turkish stuff. Watch it as soon as possible, and I mean it.