G.O.R.A. (2004)

G.O.R.A is the funniest film ever! You just can't stop laughing while watching the movie. There are references to popular films such as 'Star Wars' and 'Matrix', but the film is definitely not a copy of these films. Also there are references to Turkish culture, which would make some foreigners not understand some of the jokes. As well as this, there are jokes that they would even laugh at more. About the summary: Arif is a carpet seller and a tourist guide. He also tries to produce and sell fake UFO pictures. While he is trying sell a carpet to a customer, he is kidnapped by aliens. The spaceship, controlled by the commander Lugar brings him to the planet GORA with other slaves. Then the adventure starts...

Fmovies: The movie has great sense of humor! The actors are really understanding the Director's idea. I am happy for the making of one such vital movie. I spoke with a lot of people from Sofia, and they really appreciate the appearance of G.O.R.A. movie. I don't know if someone has decided to manage this movie outside Turkey, but I am sure, it will be successful in all parts of the world, where people have not lost their sense of humor. I would like to say, that everyone, who likes the fantasy genre, should/has to/must:) watch this movie. It makes a new reading in the idea of fantasy films. The serious situations are mixed with a lot of jokes, which I enjoyed a lot. The story is intriguing, the characters are realistic and original. This movie is counterpoint of all movies, which are made too seriously without the necessary depth/reason, which we are able to find in many funny movies. In G.O.R.A. movie we are able to find enough human sense and wits. The relation with the Matrix and other fantasy movies is made with easiness and only in service of the screenplay. The main idea is original. I hope that this is the way of the funny fantasy movies to develop in the future. The real life is not so funny and this sort of movies make people laugh for near 2 hours and forgot the daily issues. I would like to send my sincere greetings to the G.O.R.A team, and wish them other successful movies.

This movie takes one of the best abilities of us, the Turkish folk: To be able to make fun of things (especially in difficult situations), and puts it on the screen. Although most of the jokes are local, I'd love to see how a foreigner would react to the movie. The Turkish reaction is obvious: Many, many laughs.

It is hard to comment on a comedy movie's plot, but I can say that G.O.R.A.'s is at least as "meaningful", or as good as The Matrix' or Star Trek's.

And special effects deserve a single word: "Stunning!" Until now, Turkish sci-fi movies had been known for their special effects, or more specifically, their lack thereof. However, G.O.R.A. seems to have made the turning point in the Turkish movie industry. Watch it to see "what we (as in 'the Turkish folk') can do", if not for the hours of fun you are bound to have.

G.O.R.A. fmovies. I think that gora is by far the best & funniest Turkish movie ever made.

Cem Yýlmaz's acting performance is great. One negative thing about the movie is that it contains far too many local jokes which makes the movie quiet Turkish audience oriented.

Cem is great as a writer too we hope to see his work in a sequel gora 2 or even 3. little explication for the foreign readers: Cem Yilmaz is the best stand up comedian in Turkey he is half-way between Jerry Seinfeld and martin Lawrence. He mostly uses his daily experiences in his scripts and plays. He also used some of his play jokes in the movie too.

What are your expectations when you go to see a film? The most noticeable characteristic of Turkish people is that they are able to subtly critise their own culture through comedy and this is what the film has done superbly. When I read general reviews of this film, including the ones on this site, I can't help but see how Cem Yilmaz has quite cleverly and creatively worked a variety of cultural characteristics into a fictional theme. I believe that viewers who have reviewed the film in a light of this have done it justice... and come on, if there are so many 'Arif's out there, how can we still question whether or not there are extra- terrestrial life forms out there too! :-)

This is a highly successful and thoroughly hilarious film. When I walked out of the cinema, it didn't even cross my mind to analyze the film in the way I usually would.. I mean why should I? I really don't believe the writer or director even thought of doing this themselves. it's not 'persona' or anything. I experienced two hours of solid laughter. I mean what else would I have wished for? (When I think back though, the only down side was I didn't buy enough pop corn...:-))

Personally, I didn't feel the need to overstress the superb quality of the visual effects either. Yes they were surprisingly fantastic, very 'Hollywood', but this didn't add or take away from the film in any way. Put it this way, if a song is beautifully written then it will sound great even if you were to just serenade it. But if the song is crap/ badly written, then even the London Philharmonic Orchestra can't do much with it believe me!

In short, this film must not be missed! Leave all your expectations at home and don't watch it with any intention of reviewing it... just sit back & enjoy.

Arif is a typical Turkish bloke selling carpets to tourists in Western Turkey. He is also obsessed with creating fake pictures of UFOs. Then he gets abducted by aliens from the GORA planet. After all there is no rule that says aliens can only abduct people from the USA. Nor is there a rule that says that only Americans can make contact with extra-terrestrial life forms. So what happens if aliens abduct a Turkish carpet seller ?

Basically, GORA is a good piss take of the more popular sci-fi movies such as Starwars and Matrix. And that's fine with me, because I believe both Starwars (feel the Farce) and Matrix (I know Kung Fu) are extremely overrated movies. The sense of humour in GORA is Turkish. That is neither a praise nor an insult. It is just Turkish. The subtitles don't help either. For some reason Turkish movie producers hire awful translators who sometimes even mix German with English. Translation between languages that are as different from each other as Turkish and English requires slightly more than a word-by-word correspondence. I hereby offer my services free of charge. Just ask. Had the subtitles been any better the movie could have achieved some international recognition as a comedy movie. Turkish speakers should definitely watch this movie. They'll have a good laugh. Non-Turks should give it a try.