Independent minded ones are not bad at all.

İnşaat, Gönül Yarası, Babam ve Oğlum are good examples of the direction our industry should be heading towards.

The ones that follow the usual formula such as Maskeli Beşler, Hababam Sınıfı Askerde, GORA which I abhor because they reinforce the idea that my country men are not complicated enough to deal with real issues!.

Whats left is the Art De Noir. Movies that are not aimed for the wider audience but for the artsy types. Such as Türev or if you ask me Hamam as AISF mentioned before. Am not very keen on those.

I personally beleive in making movies for the widest possible audience through real issues that could be presented to audiences in unorthodox ways (Babam ve Oğlum is a good example of this) with out the dumbing down, over emotionalizing and sentimentalization. Sadly it is not the direction our film industry is heading towards. Don't get me wrong there is few brave souls who are fighting the good fight(Ömer Vargı, Yavuz Tuğrul, Çağan Irmak) but our broadcasting medias aim to milk the the bejesus out off of our audiences coffers by creating series, films and programming that stimulates our peoples very emotional nature by re-creating the same unoriginal sob stories again and again seems to be the trend at the moment.

It sure as hell does not look like the sort of mentality I mentioned will be going away anytime soon.

Regards,

DAI

DAI, excuse my ignorance and stupidity as a foreigner as well as the abuse of hospitality as a guest in your country, but do you really believe that the majority of Turkish men is 'complicated' (mature) enough to deal with real issues (as you state it so nicely)?

In my limited experience, many (if not most) Turkish men are far from mature enough to deal with the issues of modern life on a private level or modern economy on a professional level.

They behave like spoilt children, always blaming somebody else and refusing any responsibility for whatever problem, opportunity or mistake.

Even the 'modern' Istanbulite, educated in western style schools and copying European/American lifestyle well beyond the extreme and into the absurd, is rarely able to cope with any problem his mother cannot solve for him.

Exceptions (like yourselve, although I am not sure if Dekolte would agree ), like I know (or think to know) a lot of, only make the problem more painfull as it is thus proven not to be unsolvable.

To be perfectly honest I blame the system all the time too.

I try to claim my wrong doings as well.

The reason behind why our male population (female population is not that diferent either) is so spoiled is because of their belief in their infallibility, giant ego's and mothers son complex they experience starting from a young age(I am not an exception but my mom has never pampered me too much besides the house choirs. Even in that they are tried very hard I just don't have genes required for a tidy person). They are being babied from when they are toddlers up until now. From my experiences when youth of the countries you are from come to a certain age their responsible for their own pocket money. It is not so for the educated middle to upper class of my country. They are the ones who should be in charge of giving us direction. But they are in a very sad state at the moment. The exception being the uneducated or the poor, most sons and daughters of middle class or better families are taken care of until they graduate from college or for boys until they are done with their military service.

We are very emotional and friendly people. But in a paradigm of a cut throat competition and cold calculations it does not really help us in the world arena.

Adding to all this is the mass campaign of illiteracy being ran by the people in charge to keep people unaware of the real issues that needs to be addressed.

"Here you go by some more diesel pants, hangout in Bebek close the main traffic arteries by triple parking your ridicilously expensive and unnecessary cars! After all daddies money has no end!"

We do not have a university system that encourages creativity and research. It is mostly teaches you the ways to go around the problems or be very good at memorizing things for the incredible waste of an university entrance exam that only helps out Dershanes.

Seriously how smart of a person one needs to be in order to understand instead of spending all that money on dershanes you can fund private universities with entrance regulations that are not insanely close minded and competitive as they are now.

Just recently private universities started up their hospitals and research programmes in tandem with private companies to get into the R&D business. I just got back from Dubai from business meeting with an American firm. They have a perfect setup through their reputation and connections in local universities in US they get to try out the latest equipment in their field. Eliminate the useless ones pick out the creme of the crop of the tools for their field, implement them in their solutions long before the competition. U.S has been doing this for decades.

Basically what I am saying is its all about an objective education that enforces the ideals of progress through humane sciences(which is an utopic idea. Where would U.S be if it wasn't for the fringe benefits of war science and economics).

There is also the of procrasination(I am prone to this as well. I can talk the talk but can't seem to be walking the walk) gene our ethnicity has. Its an all together different post though.

DAI, DAI, DAI! I forgot a few other (for me at least) common Turkish denominators: melancholism and a total inability to laugh with oneselves.

Don't take everything so serious! Life is supposed to be fun! You are not (and hopefully will never be) Milos Kundera.

DAI, indeed I admit I have very limited exposure and aperture of the whole Turkish film industry. The artsy ones I mentioned were recommended by friends and offer views of the jaded albeit troubled past (i.e.Harem) seen mostly via rose-tinted lenses and the idealist dreamer settling in a foreign land where one finally finds oneself (as in Hammam). I don't believe that average movie-going Turks have actually seen these movies and those who know of them, rave about them. They are meant to touch a chord within us somewhere since the characters weave their way in the human saga of existence in a cut-troat world, much like ours today although in a different era. The signs of the times may be different but the same struggles and currencies still exist.

In many Southeast Asian societies, the same mentality still exits in families particularly in the higher echelons. Children are nurtured and spoonfed until they finish college, or graduate school or even after they have gotten their PhDs. That's how they see them, children. It is really the parents who promulgate and perpetuate this practice which in turn could very well strip the kids of the will nor the desire to be on their own. Renders some people helpless and lost, not knowing how to navigate and "feel" their way and know how to live in the real world. I think parents have the best intentions for offsprings but in the process of rearing, something leads them sometimes into over-protection Of course if you own a money tree that doesn't stop growing (if such exists) then the whole privileged lifestyle seem to lend that teflon coating shell esp. if one or both of the parents don't exercise discipline in areas where they are needed. It is also the child's responsibility (as in everyone else's) to fnd out the real world beyond the gates of their residence or what's going on in the streets they are driving the Maserati in . Today there are countless ways of educating oneself in whatever one wants to find out with the information available in various media. It is all about choices and humans (unlike the animals with smaller brains) have this capability.

I read this book once where it was mentioned that zoo animals are actually much happier than those in the wild since they are given what they need every single day of their lives. Can you guess what happens to them if they are actually set free to join their peers in the jungle? Do you think they even have their instincts sharpened when all they do is sleep, eat and sh-t while in "captivity?"That's my two cents worth this morning...

Ciao for now. Good thread.

Smile, you're on reality EiT.

There are many good turkish directors (Of course compered to the abilities and budget) but overall it is difficult to have a clear judgment since they are an ant compared to the elephant (american or even european industry)

Regard Hamam, and Haram Saure, indeed they are good movie but unfortunately they are not turkish production, though only the Directors origin is from turkey but lived most of his life in Italy and considered an Italian Director.

Thanks BenBen, Iam totally aware of that but for the wider audience who might not be, it's good info. There is such fascination out there for the "harem" world as depicted in art and literature and are still being rehashed today and interpreted in films. Fortunately, women have come a long way since those days.

I like stories for common folk that could be understood by the many and is not an inside joke between the artists.

Ergo David Lynch and company.

I know you are but what am I?

I sense cynicism. Yes, violins please maestro...

Movies are made to entertain and touch the human spirit. They have to have substance and depth - at least the ones I like.

I'm shelving movies to see some dancing sugar plum fairies at the ballet this weekend. Seeing King Kong however in in the works. Bring on the big hairy ape!

You called?

nice.