G.O.R.A. (2004)

A slick young Turk kidnapped by extraterrestrials shows his great « humanitarian spirit » by outwitting the evil commander-in-chief of the planet of G.O.R.A.

Director:

Ömer Faruk Sorak

Writers:

Esat Ozcan, Can Yilmaz

Stars:

Cem Yilmaz, Özge Özberk, Ozan Güven

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Cem Yilmaz	...	Arif Isik / Komutan Logar / Ersan Kuneri / Kubar
Özge Özberk	...	Princess Ceku
Ozan Güven	...	216-Robot
Safak Sezer	...	Kuna
Rasim Öztekin	...	Bob Marley Faruk
Idil Firat	...	Mulu
Erdal Tosun	...	Rendroy
Cezmi Baskin	...	Amir Tocha
Muhittin Korkmaz	...	Tihulu
Özkan Ugur	...	Garavel
Engin Günaydin	...	Magazine Editor
Murat Saglam	...	Chauffeur
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kemal Taha Akgül	...	Erdinç
Sercan Akyüz	...	Sezgin
Cihan Akçakarakus	...	Prisoner

Storyline

The film recounts the story of aliens kidnapping the carpet-seller Arif to the planet G.O.R.A. while Arif tries to find a way to get back to his planet, he falls in love with Ceku, the princess. Arif saves the planet from the evil commander-in-chief of G.O.R.A. and hence becomes a hero for the people. In this science-fiction comedy film, Cem Yilmaz played four different characters.

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Plot Keywords:

outer space | spaceflight | spaceship | robot | teleported | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Trivia

In the interview on the double-DVD special edition of the film, Cem Yilmaz explains that the title of the film is not an abbreviation but that he was inspired from the name of a kind of popular Turkish sandwich made with meatballs or sausage (and hence the reference to the "gorali" (meaning with gora but also sounds like ''from Gora'' in Turkish) sandwich ordered by the unbelieving UFO magazine editor at the end of the film).

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Goofs

The number that Arif dials in jail on the ship doesn't match to the number that appears on the LCD screen, since there were a change in the main sponsors of the film. Both sponsors were GSM Operators. But at the filming sequence Telsim was the sponsor, however at the post production sequence it was Avea.

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Quotes

Arif: [In English] Speaking English? I live in English. It's not only a language to me, it's totally best way of expressing my own. You know, sometimes I'm dreaming of a world, all people understand each other perfectly. Yes, I have a dream. Imagine all the people dancing and touching each other, communicate in a joyful harmony.
Arif: [In Turkish] Son, don't look at me like a cow, go get some tea!

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Connections

Followed by ARIF V 216 (2018)

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Soundtracks

Gora Drama Turnz
Composed by Sagopa Kajmer

User Reviews

Pretty Fun

Despite a lot of complaints that non-Turks would not find this funny, I did. I have seen it twice now. I do quite enjoy it and find much of it funny, with some parts extremely funny. Granted, a few things were not especially original, or were pretty tired or crude without being humorous to me, but these were minor problems and films like this always have some jokes that don't appeal to everyone. I cannot say I don't like a movie simply because I personally don't like some of the jokes or gags. Overall, the film was quite well-done and most of the jokes or spoofs of culture and films worked quite well.

One fun thing is to see this sort of film made from a Turkish perspective, rather than American. It puts a new twist on some things, even jokes that we've seen before or which would have been in an American or other film.

In part, I am sure my enjoyment of the film is helped by the fact that, while hardly being fluent in Turkish, I do know some Turkish and am quite familiar with the country. Therefore, while there are a number of very Turkey-specific jokes, I was able to enjoy at least some of them. I would therefore agree that a decent understanding of at least Turkish culture and recent history, if not the language, will enhance one's enjoyment of the film.

Other humour in the film seems pretty universal. As a result, there are quite a lot of jokes and spoofs that I know many Americans and Western Europeans would get. Again, while some are tired or crude, many are really quite funny and pulled off quite well.

I think that my biggest complaint is that some themes were not taken far enough. For example, more could have been done with the carpet salesman thing since that part was really quite funny and had more potential than the film exploited.

In the end, this is a pretty well-made, funny, and entertaining film. It could have been better, but it works well and should provide quite a few laughs, especially if one knows much about Turkey. It's rather silly, but that is pretty much the point, and the silliness here is mostly quite entertaining.

Although not really relevant for my discussion, I shall add that this film is also a milestone for Turkish cinema in terms of the special effects and production values for a film of this sort. I think it's important to recognize this, even though I was primarily concerned with giving my opinion of the film's content, etc. Thus, while one may be able to criticize some visuals compared to some big-budget Hollywood films, the production values/special effects are pretty good, especially considering the context.

Details

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish English

Release Date:

12 November 2004 (Turkey)

Also Known As:

G.O.R.A. - Comiche spaziali

Filming Locations:

Antalya, Turkey

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$20,839,049

Company Credits

Production Co:

Besiktas Kültür Merkezi (BKM), Bocek Yapim, Böcek Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min 127 min 89 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1