Kurtlar vadisi - Irak (2006)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Directors:

Serdar Akar
Sadullah Sentürk (co-director)

Writers:

Ömer Lütfi Mete (scenario supervisor)
Raci Sasmaz (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 February 2006 (Syria)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

Some Men Are Born to be Heroes

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Artificiality | Turkey | Wedding | Racist

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Necati Sasmaz	...	Polat Alemdar
Billy Zane	...	Sam William Marshall
Ghassan Massoud	...	Abdurrahman Halis Karuki (sheikh)
Gürkan Uygun	...	Memati Bas
Bergüzar Korel	...	Leyla
Kenan Çoban	...	Abdülhey Çoban
Erhan Ufak	...	Erhan Ufak
Diego Serrano	...	Dante, Sam's assistant
Gary Busey	...	Doctor
Spencer Garrett	...	George Baltimore, journalist
Tito Ortiz	...	American Major Commander 2
Nusret Senay	...	Turkish Commander
Tayfun Eraslan	...	SÜLEYMAN ASLAN
Ismet Hürmüzlü	...	Abu Tarik, arab leader
Jihad Abdou	...	KURDISH LEADER

Also Known As:

Valley of the Wolves: Iraq (International: English title)

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Arabic | English | Turkish | Kurdish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Germany:16 (original rating) | Germany:18 (re-rating) | Australia:MA | France:-16 | Finland:K-15 | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:R16

Filming Locations:

Gaziantep, Turkey

Company:

Pana Film

Trivia:

This film was the the subject of heated discussions in Germany. Originally it was rated "Not under 18" by the FSK, but distributor Maxximum appealed this decision which resulted in a "Not under 16" rating. Then the film became a success, especially amongst turkish teenagers. The success resulted in massive media coverage. This in turn resulted in broad discussions from politicians (especially from the Bavarian conservative CSU party), youth organisations etc. about the films "Anti-American statements" and their influence on youngsters. After another appeal (from the minister for family and integration from Northrhine Westphalia) the FSK raised the rating back to the original "Not under 18".

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The PASGT helmets worn by U.S. soldiers are obviously replicas as they are thinner and have no bulk on the sides.

Movie Connections:

Follows "Kurtlar vadisi" (2003)

Just a B-action movie, but behind it is a very good message

It's actually surprisingly slick for a Turkish movie, considering it's also part of an ongoing TV series, kinda like their "24".

The Good:

The actors all did well, and I'm surprised to see so many real American actors, including Busey and Zane in such a blatantly anti-war movie. The music The cinematography The editing The special effects

The Bad:

The production design is cheap by movie standards. The US military uniforms are not very believable and many of the US soldiers speak with thick accents (especially the jailer at Abu Ghraib). The plot is not believable, with the four Turkish special forces guys taking out a LOT of American G.I.'s at the climax. The US soldiers are shown to be cartoonishly evil - one guy even kills one of his own men for threatening to tell on him for killing some Iraqi civilians! Gary Busey as a Jewish Doctor harvesting organs to send to the West - a bit far fetched.

As ludicrous as it gets, this movie is a real eye-opener to how the Islamic world sees us. The war is controversial and polarizing here, just like this movie and most Americans are gonna love it or hate it long before they actually watch it. I liked it. One almost never sees an American (non-documentary) movie with the guts to be so completely one-sided, especially when our questionable foreign policy is involved. US soldiers as the bad guys, led by a fanatical Christian zealot, is definitely not something one sees every day. This movie is kinda like THE OMEGA CODE 2 turned on its head. Between the bad and the good, VALLEY OF THE WOLVES: IRAQ at least never fails to be entertaining.