The Chaos Class Failed the Class

Hababam Sinifi is basically a movie based on the novel by Rifat Ilgaz, telling the story about a class of lazy high school pranksters. The movie just presents the most entertaining moments of high school years; which we have all been there once, and feel deep down a nostalgia for the days when life was fun and we were teenagers, going only after fun and entertainment. Cheating in Literature exams, smoking in the mens room, playing hookey from school for a football game; those were the best days of our lives. While the movie is brilliantly and incredibly funny; it contains some heart breaking emotional moments as well.

I can easily say that this movie is by far the best movie ever made in Turkey, and it is a must-see for everyone who has been to high school and now a middle-ager. While it contains some local cultural jokes here and there, the story told is highly universal, as was "Cidade de Deus" or, say, "Trainspotting". And although it is 30 years old, it is a story that never gets old.

All in all, THIS movie is the greatest movie of all times. And if you ever get a chance to see it, do not miss it. Or ask some Turkish friend about it, and you'll find out that everybody knows it, has seen it zillions of times, knows every scene by heart, and just plain loves it. 9,3 overall IMDb rating is no mistake.

My rating: 10/10

Before I start, a little background info; The Hababam series were (are) repeated so many times on television that it has become known to everyone in Turkey. In fact, the comedy's from the 70's made a major impact in the following Turkish comedy history.

Shortly the movie is about a class of slackers, all boys who don't study and are constantly trying to do all kinds of pranks or trying to escape out of the dormitory etc. In this Hababam the whole class actually fails the exams, and the school is threatened to be closed.

Compared to western standards this movie can be seen as a normal family comedy, but the thing what makes it really good is the individual contribution/improvisation of the various actors (whom became one of the greatest of the Turkish comedy history). There is given some decent amount of freedom to the actors to give their own flavor to it. And I think the actors did an excellent job doing this, especially Kemal Sunal and Sener Sen, because of this there are a lot of small very funny scenes throughout the whole movie, which made the movie very enjoyable, rich and therefore re-watchable.

This movie in particular has something special to it, not only because most people watched this movie over and over since their childhood, but also because of the jokes and it also gets a bit more serious in the end. I think this movie is rooted deep to a lot of people, and each time when you watch it this movie brings back nice memories.

The film "Hababam Sinifi" (The Chaos Class) is a work by Turkish literary writer Rifat ilgaz. In fact, Rifat ilgaz's work focuses on runaway and mischievous students in class, depicting their mischief and its consequences in his own style. However, what director Ertem Egilmez and his team have created is a magnificent comedy for Turkish cinema and Yesilcam. It wouldn't be wrong to say that it has also introduced some important actors to our cinema.

I found this movie because of its listing in the IMDB Top 250 and had the opportunity to watch a restored version on YouTube. I also watched its immediate predecessor Chaos Class (Hababam Sinifi) for additional context due to my limited exposure to Turkish films and culture.

In the original, a new vice-principal, Mahmut, arrives at a private Istanbul high school. The twist in this sequel is the arrival of a female literature teacher, Semra, a recent university graduate. The movie largely focuses on their interactions with a group of over-aged students known collectively in the translation as the Rascals.

The high school is more of a boarding school, with the parents largely absent. It is a gated boarding school, where students are expected to remain onsite at most times. The Rascals, in spite of being "high school" students are mostly in their mid-20s, but generally behave like adolescents (hence their designation as the chaos class, which might also have broadly applied to their post-war generation). They spend most of their time scheming pranks and cheats.

Mahmut is a late-career educator. In the earlier Chaos Class, he had been introduced to the Rascals and had earned a level of respect from them for his nuanced handling of their discipline. The other teachers are more easily manipulated by the Rascals, and the green new hire Semra proves particularly gullible to their schemes. There is also an older female staff member named Hafize, who sometimes abets the Rascals in their pranks.

The Rascals push the boundaries of good behavior with each other, particularly with one Rascal nicknamed Cow, but mostly with the adult authorities. How Mahmut and the faculty respond here and to the pranks in general is as integral to the movie as the pranks themselves.

The Chaos Class films do not descend into the full out raunchiness of a film like Animal House, but rather hearken back more to the contemporaneous US tv series "Welcome Back Kotter," with the Rascals standing in for Kotter's sweathogs.

Unlike Kotter, Mahmut is older and does not come from the same background as the students. Like Kotter, though, he earns the students' respect and ties the story together. To a degree, he may also represent the older generation facing the "generation gap" with the young adults of the 1970s.

Does this movie, or any Chaos Class movie, belong on a list of the 250 best films ever made? In short, probably not. However, it will do little harm to spend an hour and a half watching it. If you are a fan of Kotter or Animal House, you will likely enjoy it, and I could certainly see Turkish viewers finding a certain nostalgic pleasure in rewatching it.

This movie always has a nostalgic feel to it.

This movie never gets old.