User Reviews

I see many people regarded this movie as an insult to the mightiness of the Devlet-i alâ Osmanlı (The Great Empire of Ottoman)... No, it isn't. It simply aims to make people ask one of those magical questions, that begin with "What if?". And for those who can't answer by himself, the director gives his answer: It would be a tragedy.

I don't know in what mood did those people watch the movie, or their level of knowledge and capability of understanding the history. Or even whether they watched the movie before making comments here, or did they just read the pilot and raged. But I can't help wondering; how would Ottoman be able to re-gain its freedom, after it completely lost it, after all the troops were dissolved and everything is captured by the Great Forces of the World? How? Many nations around the world would like to hear about your big idea. There are numberless examples for these kind of situations throughout the history.

Gani Müjde doesn't insult the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman was one of the greatest empires of the world, once. But when the golden-haired little boy (at the beginning and the end of the movie) grew old enough to be sent to Samson, as an army officer with a command to dissolve all the troops that were resisting against the invasion, and to collect all the weapons and the ammunitions they had, Ottoman was just a "Dying Man". And the vultures were flying over this dying man desirously, to get their shares as soon as possible. But Mustafa Kemal didn't only disobey the command, but he also did the opposite and united the small troops and people from all ages, all regions of Anatolia together and created a great army from the ashes of Ottoman.

Some may say, if there were no Mustafa Kemal at all, Turkish nation would have created another Ataturk anyhow. (For those who are not familiar with Turkish history; Mustafa Kemal's surname wasn't Ataturk at the time of Independence War of Turks. Turks didn't use surnames until 1934. His surname was given by the Counsil of Republic of Turkey in 1934.) They are right in some points, I must admit. Even in Ataturk's time, there were another heroes who helped him in his "adventure". But ask yourself this question, people: How would today's Anatolia be like, if Mustafa Kemal obeyed the command given to him, and did his job with all his strength? Today we would be haunting his name, for he just did his job. One way, or another. This great commander held the fate of his nation in his hands, and he managed to save his nation. We have to admit, he did a great job, by not doing his actual job.

So, could the movie have been better? Sure. One point that i didn't like about the movie is the accents of the foreign people. When they speak English, it is obvious that they are Turkish actors, who are trying to speak English like a native speaker. And when they speak Turkish, again it is obvious that they are Turkish actors who are trying to speak Turkish like a non-native speaker. I would have acted there, if Gani Müjde asked me to. Although i am not a native speaker of English neither, my accent is far better than those.

And the make up... One can clearly see that most of the people's beard and mustache (like Ibrahim Pasha's) were simply glued onto their faces. Considering that this is not a low-budged movie, it is hard to understand why they didn't give any importance to this.

And finally, those "funny" characters in a coffee-house in Ankara? The ones that seem like they have escaped from a child play. What was it all about? Trying to make explosives from animal feces? Like the explosives made of fertilizer. Get out of here! They didn't make the movie a comedy at all, they made it a bunk. Without that so-called funny scenes, Gani Müjde could have made it a drama, and it would be far better than this.

To sum up; this movie has both good and bad points. It doesn't seem to be #1 in top 250, but it is still worth watching. Maybe people who don't know anything about the Independence War of Turks may find some points difficult to understand. But it is absolutely not fair to claim that it is just a waste of time. At least I don't feel like I've wasted my time.

Unfortunately some people fairly enjoys decrying Ottoman Empire while doing something with Ataturk's love. It is indisputable that this country became independent by the leadership of Ataturk. But in this film what mainly called my attention is that Emperor of Ottaman was shown as a inebriate, womanizer, characterless person. This is great indignity to our history. In addition, the most comic scenes of the film were in its trailers. So that while watching film you say "is that all!". You must not expect very funny film before watch it. Consequently, I think there was no need for this -not comic- film at all to give a message of "if there weren't Ataturk"

This film asks a hypothetical and controversial question what would present day Turkey of been like without Ataturk. I personally am not a Kemalist and do not agree with some of the changes and reforms he initiated but Ataturk deserves every Turk's salutations irregardless of political perspectives as this film explains because he is our Churchill our great war leader against a ruthless adversary

The film starts in 2008 the year this film is made that shows the Ottoman King like a present day Arab monarch a privileged life with poor subjects no different to most of the Middle East. Turkey's boundaries have been initiated by the treaty of Sevres allocating parts of Anatolia to Greece and Russia along with a Kurdish state. America now exploits the Sultan and crushes an uprising against him by underground leaders who demand a republic showing Turkey at the mercy of imperialism and not a sovereign country.

The few complaints I have about this emotional film is that turkey is simply not portrayed as Arab enough and that it should be called the Ottoman Kingdom not republic - though most Turks considered themselves nationally Ottoman until the introduction of the word "Turkey" in the 1920s. The moral of this film is whether you are a Kemalist or a Traditionalist rightfully thank Ataturk he overthrew the monarchy and founded the Turkish state though I believe the Ottoman heritage should of been assimilated in to the republic as it is part of its natural DNA.