The International (2006)

One of the best Turkish movies that I watched in years! It is certainly in the class of great Italian movies; the script, acting, cinematography, and the music are all great!

This movie tells the story of an era in Turkish political history full of military oppression, violence, prosecution, and ignorance in a satirical way. The choice of the song "International" as the theme music in the movie is smart and wonderful!

I have only one criticism about the script and that's why I did not give a perfect score: the events in the last 5 minutes of the movie have evolved very quickly and ended in an unusually dramatic way, which made me think if there were financial reasons for ending the film so abruptly. Otherwise, it had the potential to win prestigious international awards. Congratulations to the crew who produced such a great movie with a small budget!

Fmovies: I was not expected an extraordinary movie such as Beynelmilel. Recently, there has undeniably been an increase in Turkish movies. However it is clear that quantity can not bring quality into the scenes. I am grateful for seeing a master from Gulmez and Onder. The budget was small, contrary, story and drama was at the highest. We learn the life of Gevendes' - local musicians- in Adiyaman region. People were looking for a little bit freedom for their way of life. For the moment, it seems strange even listening music was prohibited by law makers. We should appreciate the freedom we have now. It is definitely that the freedom needs enlargement in Turkey. Comparing in the days we live I feel better.

The movie was made so plain and perfect. Directors did not exaggerate the scenes to increase humour. Humour factor was talently implemented into the body of the movie. As Gulendam, Ozgu Namal played very well. She was really beautiful and capable of playing difficult characters. As Abuzer, Cezmi Baskin was fantastic. His play is not comparable to the other Turkish players. He is far behind them. As Semra, Meral Okay capable of adding value to the movie. We can see her power easily. Most of the other players are not famous but they were playing their roles like they are an expert.

In my opinion Beynelmilel should have gone for Oscar instead of Dondurmam Gaymak. Definitely the directors make Beynelmilel in basic film rules and they seem to win success with the help of story, players, scenes, culture.

For a long time after 1980, there has been a violent supression on the people of my suffering country. The governments which came after the military period all ruled my country as their successors. They were brutally militarist and fascist. The director of the movie is a director who has been sent to prison and been tortured on that evil period just because he had socialist ideals. They have been hunt down and slaughtered in the very dark corners and 3000 people haven't been found. A little Pinochet is the general who arrives the city at the end of the movie. The ignorant young people who believed that they were socialists but were only a band of stupid idealists were shown to be responsible of killings and massacres. This movie is a very good movie which tells the truth from a very far corner. Maybe because director is still afraid that he will face the same tortures again. But still he wants you to see who they were in fact. They were young men and women, 18-30 years old, grown up in the 60s and 70s with the belief that one man can change the whole world. All they did was listening to the communist international (turkish translation: beynelmilel), speak stupidly of how the world should be. That's a very sad story told in a very touching way. You laugh all through the movie but in the end there is a big fist in your throat which maybe for generations we will not be able to swallow. Thank you for a great movie like this.

The International fmovies. The film is telling a story from Turkey in a difficult time slice and place. The time is 1982 and place is Adiyaman from less developed portion of Turkey. Story is using local musicians who are earning their life from night entertainments or from weddings, as a tool to develop around. Scenario is convincing well and many details such as small things, objects, and clothes are perfectly reflecting that time and that place. This is together with the correct dialogs developed between local people and officers, giving a highly realistic atmosphere to the movie. In spite of some accent errors, cast is successful as well.

The mood of the film has a spectrum from comedy to tragedy like their life itself. The peak comedy scene in cemetery is really better than many comedy movie, and the last scene showing the changed world after years are really tragedy, or black comedy. Old and fat but congenial singers who are derived from other cities to sing in the nightclub are playing the timeless philosophic minds of such situations.

To avoid any spoiler, I will not tell in details but the final public meeting scene and unusual events in the meeting are not realistic. This portion is the only faulty portion of the movie. This is not a masterpiece but a movie not to miss.