Whenever I have a spare time, I take a DVD movie and watch it. Most of the movies I like to watch are the thrill ones and sometimes action. A dear friend of mine in Baghdad sent me a DVD movie he purchased from one of the biggest DVD stores in Baghdad. This time, the movie is not like any other movie people usually watch. The one he sent has to do with the short-time struggle between US forces and Turkey in Northern Iraq and scenes from the reality Iraqis witnessed when the new era started in 2003.
Valley of the Wolves: Iraq is yet a new Turkish action movie which has caused a media/blogging stormlet because of its timely setting (Northern Iraq) and because two "name" U.S. actors (Billy Zane and Gary Busey) play the American villains.The Turkish film is originally based on a Turkish television series of the same name that has been a hit in Turkey for three seasons. Filmed with a budget of $10 million, Valley of the Wolves is the most expensive film ever made in Turkey.
In one bloody scene which incites emotions, trigger-happy US troops massacre Iraqi Turkoman civilians at a wedding party in the Iraqi oil-rich city of Kirkuk. A secret CIA unit, interrupts the wedding party of Leila (Berguzar Korel, dignified), the adopted daughter of a tolerant local Muslim leader (Ghassan Massoud, ditto), on the grounds that terrorists may be lurking. When one of Sam's trigger-happy operatives shoots a boy, all hell breaks loose and Leila's husband ends up dead. She swears revenge on the CIA agent, even though her adoptive father warns her that's not the way of Islam. A lot of air time is given to the Sheikh who lectures Leila when she says she wants to be a suicide bomber and besides the whole Islam forbids it line, he wisely notes, "they may die, but others will die too."
In another scene, the troops firebomb a mosque which the Turkish fighters used as their last stop before leaving to Turkey during dawn prayer. There are multiple summary executions.
In another scene, the troops firebomb a mosque which the Turkish fighters used as their last stop before leaving to Turkey during dawn prayer. There are multiple summary executions.
For the first time in the world of cinema, the real-life abuses by American soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison are played out. A female US soldier was shown ripping off the clothes off of an Iraqi and throwing him on a human pyramid. Even the doctor - played by Gary Busey - is evil, removing human organs from Iraqi prisoners to send to patients in the US, Israel and Britain.
There is also a scene with terrorists videotaping the beheading procession of a Western hostage when the same Sheikh comes in and verbally slaps them into humiliation, releases the hostage, and gives the long samurai blade that was being pointed at the hostage's neck to the hostage and tells him to behead one of the terrorists. The journalist then drops the blade and weeps at the Sheikh's feet.
Finally, I would love to say that the movie is worth watching. It was filmed in a way you don't want to leave your chair in order not to miss the consequence of feelings and events.
There is also a scene with terrorists videotaping the beheading procession of a Western hostage when the same Sheikh comes in and verbally slaps them into humiliation, releases the hostage, and gives the long samurai blade that was being pointed at the hostage's neck to the hostage and tells him to behead one of the terrorists. The journalist then drops the blade and weeps at the Sheikh's feet.
Finally, I would love to say that the movie is worth watching. It was filmed in a way you don't want to leave your chair in order not to miss the consequence of feelings and events.
