Entelköy Efeköy'e Karsi (2011) Reviews

• "Reality is harsh. It can be cruel and ugly..."

  elsinefilo2012-04-01

  Yet no matter how much we grieve over our environment and circumstances nothing will change. What is important is not to be defeated, to forge ahead bravely. If we do this, a path will open before us." Daisaku Ikeda "Eco-village" is the story of a bunch of eco-activists, who decide to settle down in a village on the Aegean coast far away from the bustling cacophony of the metropolitan life. All they want is to restore peace and serenity in their life and reunite with Mother Nature. To build up a commune next to a village, they buy up as much as they need from villagers. From donkeys to unused land and household stuff, the villagers sell everything they can at a high price. Everything is fine and dandy for the local villagers until the village is selected to be a potential site for a coal plant. While this means guaranteed employment for the villagers, their "artsy-fartsy tree hugger" neighbours are well aware of the value of their pristine land which is too precious to be sacrificed to greed and irresponsibility. The whole comedy relies on the fight between these two villages. Even if it sounds like a good comedy, Eco-village is more than a comedy. The story is indeed real. Turkey currently generates about 80% of its electricity with thermoelectric plants. Its other principal power source is hydroelectric dams. While developed countries like Japan deem it necessary to discuss from scratch their current basic energy plan and reconsider adding renewable energy and energy saving as two major pillars in their energy production, it's really unfortunate that a developing country like Turkey is thinking of building fossil-fuel power stations and nuclear power plants. In that sense, Eco-village does its best in helping environmental awareness. With its highly funny dialogue (at least for a native Turkish speaker), memorable, traditional Turkish songs and amazing cinematography it succeeds in leaving its imprint on your mind but, in Turkey there is more to this picture than meets the eyes. Take the Akkuyu facility which is set to begin soon in Mersin, for instance. Environmentalists worry that the plant could be prone to the same kind of disaster that hit the Fukushima plant in Japan last year. In the recent protests however, you would not see an understanding minister as in the movie. Imagine security officers collecting Greenpeace t-shirts which are considered seditious.(yes,that actually happened) According to the prime minister Erdogan, Turkey is determined to provide some 10 percent of its electricity need from nuclear facilities by 2030. Yüksel Aksu may have wanted this movie to be as humanitarian, tolerance-promoting and awareness raising as he can so he may have left politics out of this but reality is harsh and politics has so much to do with it.

• A good comedy

  guney-sadik2012-12-18

  This film is wonderful.I really like it.It has a lots of comic scenes. You can't watch this film without smiles.Film wants to give you a message too.Film talking about environmental pollution.They want to show us problems of modern systeym,they are making it with a comic way.There is a environmental group which want to resque a natural place(a village) from nuclear power station.There is one more group too.And second grop is some villagers who supporting the nuclear.Film is telling argue of them.And there are some love stories too.You will find some adventure and see beauties of a Turkish village.I think everybody should watch this movie!

• never hesitate, watch it...

  sahin-bilaltr2014-04-04

  surely it is a perfect movie, i need to advise that to all the people i know this one, u can taste the original Turkish life in turkey with this movie, all the speeches, events, characters are definitely authentic no doubt to watch it if u would like to have an idea of Turkish life, the only point in this film that i can show as a missing part is that the bad word usage is a little exaggerated but its OK, in fact the bad words in everywhere. the German characters are also a fun in this film because the German people and the Turkish people are living in together for most of the time so thats also a wise idea to put that into the film, the village life in this film is quite normal and natural, i felt as if i am in my own village when i was watching the film. and the old thoughts of the Turkish people were very well criticized in ts movie so thats also a good point in the film. thanks for creating a film like that :D

• Welcome Strangers!

  classick-654-6155982012-03-23

  this movie is about German Activists coming to Turkey and starting (establishing) an organic village. The native people want government to establish a termic santral but activists of Germany try to persuade natives, saying that their village of natural beauty will be demolished... Instead they try to establish an organic village, making tourists pay for donkey-ride, eating organic food, staying at old houses. They get some rewards for their activies by Turkish government and German government as well. This movie also teaches us other perspectives. We can earn money not by building nuclear santrals, we can earn money by making our village more beautiful, so that tourists would visit.