Beheading Bonanza Begets Istanbullywood

September 21st, 2014

Awake Goy

I have received a request to review the trailer of a Turkish TV drama series of the Islamic terrorism subgenre produced in February 2014 by the large and growing Turkish movie industry dubbed Istanbullywood. The Turkish TV drama was called Valley of the Wolves and it has been well received by the public.

According to wikipedia, “… it went on nationwide general release across Turkey on February 3, 2006, was the highest-grossing Turkish films of 2006 and is one of the most expensive Turkish films ever made.” “The film grossed $27.9 million at the box office — $25.1 million in Turkey and $2.8 million in Europe.” The trailer featured here is one episode only of the Turkish TV series.

The request came to me from someone I assume to be a fan of my writings. It is not a secret to me that I am a discerning and respected movie critic.

It is difficult to review a trailer, which is a marketing tool splicing together a few of the most action-packed sequences of the movie, and which does not give the viewer the opportunity to appreciate the movie in its entirety.
Nevertheless, this trailer is special insofar as even such a small glimpse gives grounds for a several reasonable conclusions. Having watched it carefully — please pay attention to the sequence at 33 seconds in the trailer above — I conclude the following:

— This Turkish made-for-TV movie featuring a beheading (or rather the foreplay, literally the “necking,” the director being too prude to show the actual act) was produced in February 2014, months before the same sequence appears in the Rita Katz-distributed videos.
It is reasonable to assume that the actors, and perhaps the director as well, caught the eye of a big Western producer who came out with the videos months later. I refuse to believe they simply lifted these scenes from the Turkish series, adapted and repurposed them, because that would be unethical and actionable.

— I have heaped praise in my previous reviews on the production values of the Rita Katz-distributed beheading videos we have seen so far, not only with regards to the cinematography but also the effective, spare acting of those playing the victims. It is praise I stand by.

Nevertheless I cannot say the same thing about the amateurish performance of the actor playing the executioner and it is in fact surprising to me that they used the same one again and again. Whether he is a Turk speaking the kind of British English taught in Turkish secondary schools or not, his major problem is not his wooden diction but his very poor physical acting.
I will go as far out on a limb as to guess he is an amateur actor whose day job is that of a barber. Watch the unconsciously tender, practiced gesture of gently grasping the “victim’s” chin as if about to shave him.

[“Turn your head a bit to the left, Efendi, please.”]

This barberly mannerism can be seen in this video as well, with more wooden delivery of his lines:

One last remark on a visual detail that escaped me in my previous reviews (here and here):

What a masterful effect of the wind blowing on the victim only! The flapping and waving of that orange outfit meant to suggest the inner turmoil of the victim, in stark contrast to the stoic expression on his face!

It is obvious that Istanbullywood has skillfully capitalized on the popularity of the Islamic terrorism subgenre of the action movies and is the place to go for the talent recruiters of the Western studios.

We usually think of Turkey with gratitude in terms of its goverment’s full support of our war on terror, especially in Syria, but we would be remiss to ignore Turkey’s cultural contribution in this endeavor.

We owe Istanbullywood a well-deserved “Teşekkür ederim” for this.