Reviews

When I watched this movie for the first time back in the 70s when I was a kid, all my friends and I began pretending those guys in the movie, the way they talk and walk. Especially almost everything Sener Sen (Sakir) said in the movie became instantly part of our slang: Konusma lan: Shuddupp! Dokunma lan: Don'touch! Here is a funny (in Turkish) conversation from the movie: - Cicek Abbas: hey guys, tea for everyone from me, I buy it. Let's celebrate! I am a bus driver too now. - Sakir: I don't want your tea. - Cicek Abbas: OK, tea for everyone except Sakir. - Sakir: What do you mean by Sakir? - Cicek Abbas: Isn't your name Sakir, Sakir? What can I call you? - Sakir: You don't get it. You should call me, like Mr.Sakir, big brother, or Uncle Sakir, or Sir, Sakir. - Cicek Abbas: Oh I got it now. But I am sorry, that was old days that you were my big brother or uncle. Now I am your fellow driver, Sakirrrr!

The film actually has two separate stories, starting from the same scene. First story is about a small town guy who comes back from the military service as a wounded handicapped man. The next story is about his friend who comes back home in the big city after army service. Their before-military dreams are destroyed when they confront realities of life. I liked the first story better because it is very probable and realistic. However, the second story, is not as strong as the first, mainly because of telling a marginal story, (army guy turns into mafia guy, his daddy had a former marriage with a Greek woman, and their son is half Greek half Turkish gay man).. So second story mainly revolves around the psychological conflicts on how come a Turkish commando-mafia guy had a gay Greek half brother.. I wonder how many turks had this same conflict :) This is a typical trap of many Turkish movie makers usually fall.. They focus on a marginal story, and lives of marginal people, and they miss the huge majority of people, and their ordinary lives. The realism in the movie weakens when almost all characters are losers, alcohol and drug abusers. Movie also is loaded with too many things which reduces its believability: terrorist/military conflict, Turkish guy loving a terrorist conflict, painful earthquake, Greek Turkish relations, gay-macho conflicts, substance abuse, mafia, son father conflict, etc .. too many things in one package.. Conclusion: Nice to watch, especially the first story, but it could have been done better..

Koyden Indim Sehire (From Village to the City) is of the greatest comedy films in Turkish movie history. Although not well known as "Hababam Sinifi", this movie is as good, and even surpasses it in some scenes and quality of role playing. Four brothers discover a treasure in their village, and decide to cash it in the big city. The movie goes on in a funny way when "village smart" brothers turn to each other and finally lose all the gold. One of the best performances of the best comedy actors in the same tradition of "Marx Brothers"... Although this movie is culture dependent, and the humor in the movie can be fully understood by a Turkish person, with subtitles, I think this movie can also be real fun by non Turkish audiences.

This is a great comedy but obviously a typical American won't laugh as much as a Turkish person. Kemal Sunal and his classmates play it in the same tradition like Jerry Lewis and Charlie Chaplin. I showed the movie to an American friend, and with some translation, he laughed and enjoyed it, too. So, it is normal for Turks to give it a 10 rating, and non-turks to give a 7.3, and the difference is due to something lost in the translation! The other thing is, the Turks don't laugh at actually what the characters are saying, but HOW they are saying... The facial expressions, the accent, body language.. all contribute... So you have to live for a while in Turkey to fully appreciate this movie...