This lavish production depicting the Turkish war of independence following the Ottoman defeat in World War I has got everything that money, energy, devotion to its chosen subject, careful attention for period detail and enthusiasm (not to mention a large and interested army to provide extras) can buy. No expense was spared, no effort was curtailed in order to take the six-hour long story from the bloody fields of war to the sunny tennis courts of England, from the bleak government buildings of Ankara to the merriments of the Greeks in Smyrna, from the dimly-lit Imperial palace at Istanbul to the equally dimly-lit offices of Soviet power, from whitewashed hospital wards to farmers' huts, from Atatürk's cluttered working-table to the sumptuous drawing-rooms of the British prime minister. Against such a broad background, the parts of the individual actors come rather short. But in the limited range of their allotted parts, most actors give creditable performances; some thought has gone into finding actors who actually physically resemble their parts (most uncannily Simon Ward as Churchill, who has come a long way since impersonating the dashing duke of Buckingham). Among many forgettable characters, Kemal paşa himself stands out, played by an actor whose resemblance to a personage whose traits, at various stages of his life, have etched themselves indelibly on the eye of any Turk or for that matter of anyone who spent any amount of time in Turkey, is not remarkable; however, he makes up for this by his impressive presence (and his mesmerizing voice). His task is of course made easier by the fact that he has to play a personage much larger than life. Although efforts have been made to show his human traits (his respect for his mother; his physical sufferings at times), Atatürk is never less than the father of the nation and the artisan of victory, never erring, never weak and never wrong. Some of the same simplification is obvious in the way foreigners and even enemies have nothing but words of praise and awe in the face of the successes of the Turkish army (one may not overlook that under the infamous article 400 of the criminal code, "insulting Turkishness" is a punishable offence) and in the way Greeks and Turks respectively have been portrayed: Every atrocity mentioned (mercifully not shown) by the film is attributed to Greeks only (although there is an effort made to nuance the image of the enemy, as for instance in the fair portrayal of General Trikoupis), while Turks are invariably selfless to the point of self-sacrifice, wholeheartedly devoted to the cause, patient, toiling and kind (except for a handful of evil politicians who unpatriotically pursue their own agendas). Somewhat disconcerting though is the lack of any mention of the big fire of Izmir; it might conceivably have spoiled the celebrations. This DVD is not very foreigner-friendly though. Of course, someone who does not know the provisions of the Treaty of Sevres would probably not want to watch this film anyway; but even for those of us who have some knowledge of the period and events, the bewildering amount of characters, politicians, generals, diplomats, Turkish, Greek, British, Soviet, most of whom appear but briefly, makes the film a bit difficult to follow at times. Some DVD feature explaining some of the background issues might have been very helpful; equally, one concerning the "making of " a film which commands such resources and such masses of people would have been of some interest. As it is, the onlooker's patience is tried further by the rather indifferent English subtitles which often leave one with the impression that only half of what was said was also translated.
Review of Kurtulus
