Istanbul Kanatlarimin Altinda

Turkish filmmaker Mustafa Altioklar ("Ağır Roman" & "Beyza'nın Kadınları") followed his feature debut "Denize Hançer Düştü" with this curios retelling of the legendary tale of the Ottoman Turkish brothers Hezârfen Ahmed and Lagari Hasan Çelebi who according to a brief mention in the works of the notoriously unreliable Evliyâ Çelebi achieved the first manned glider and rocket flight respectively in the early 17th century.

The affable Ege Aydan puts in a fine performance as the eccentric polymath, with strong support from Okan Bayülgen as his apparently deranged brother, the gorgeous Beatriz Rico as his Italian love interest, Savas Ay as his drinking companion, Haluk Bilginer as the dubious narrator and a 1996 Ankara International Film Festival Best Supporting Actor winning turn from Burak Sergen as the Sultan.

The director has little to build on with these supposedly great historical events apparently only warranting a couple of lines in the travelogue of a single writer but many Turks still cling to them as gospel and here they are spun out into a cheap and cheerful epic of the inspired scientist pursuing a dream in defiance of the rulers that is sure to inspire the nation if not the cynical outsider.

There is a mystery other than all those solved so far.

This film can be regarded as the resurrection of the Turkish film industry. you can find the feeling of being free against all forces that stand as obstacles to be an individual.After you see that movie, it is most possible to criticize you about why i am trying to get more things in this life if it has an end.Maybe, you can think deeply that my job is not what i am actually want to do and you can say that i could achieve many things if i have not cared the money so much.And LOVE does not need to talk, two people, Ahmet and Franchesco, who do not know the languages of each other show that LOVE does not need to talk. As far as the musics of the movie are concerned, They are excellent and they are effectively integrated to the scenes of the movie. I wanna say that Tuluyhan Ugurlu, composer of the musics, made these musics just for that movie. I advise everybody to see that film.

This movie wouldn't be made these days. Under the preassure of unnamed dictatorship which praising the Ottoman Empire without considering the truth; it is impossible to potray any Ottoman emperor like that. It is a very brave production and the fact that it cannot be made today is proof of how we are going through a dark period. However, as a movie, it's very dull. The acting is mediocre. Extras are painfully bad. Especially Okan Bayülgen acted so badly. Dialogues have been overly didactic and unrealistic. In places, there are sentences that really taste like a middle school show. There are textbook phrases such as "You were not only the first person to fly. You were also the first to fly from continent to continent.". For me it was hard to watch it at once.

The director, Mustafa Altioklar, developed himself in the recent years by making extraordinary-to-Turkish-cinema movies and made a point of view to the life on these movies. When you see them, you'll find a very dark atmosphere, people suffering and rebellious, great fear, fury and vengeance which attract you in a mysterious way. The words that the characters speak take you to a chaotic world of a poem.

Istanbul Kanatlarimin Altnda is a typical Altioklar film that has all these properties making it attractive. And also glorious poetic acting by Ege Aydan, Okan Bayülgen, Burak Sergen and Haluk Bilginer make watching it a must. I strongly advise it.