Where did the nearly 2000 (46%) 10/10s for this movie come from? It really is a very messy, flawed film combining a serious drama with Indiana Jones ridiculousness, and I would be unsurprised if the score has been flooded in some way.
shareIt's because it was rated by Turks. Turks give a 10/10 to every pro-Turkish movie like the garbage Fetih 1453.
Wait till Westerners rate it too.
Generally the nationalistic feelings tend to ruin scores on IMDB. I completely agree with that. We see that tendency mostly on American soldier and spy movies such as "The Hurt Locker" and "Argo". Even The Hurt Locker got the Oscar right? When it comes to movies about Turkish people the western people are so used to see Turks as bad people that they get suspicious (or even uncomfortable and complaining) about the movie that has a slightest piece of Turkish point of view. Oppositely if it portrays Turks like evil creatures it makes many people so happy, such as Dracula Untold. If we compare the number of movies that has an objective - both Turkish and other people's point of view - and anti-Turkish movies you will see tons of anti-Turkish movies, simply because it makes people earn money. After the movie people say "Yeah I knew it!". This makes audience satisfied and even happy about their distorted history knowledge. However, it does not mean that the history was shaped in that way.
In the comment section of the movie I see many Armenians write about the genocide issue which has nothing to do with the movie.In fact, the world is not rounding around them. During 1915 the west front meant everything for Ottomans while the east front was complete chaos. So I think they should start to speak another language than repeating the "genocide" word like parrots.
I think movies showing Turkish point of view are very important because western people should learn more about them. All in all we should not forget that Turks have been very influential in Europe for centuries. In other words it is part of the West even though Turkey is being excluded in today's political conjuncture. (This might be also because of their weird president). I think, Crowe's movie on Gallipoli is a very good start for it because ANZACs and Turks share common ideas about what happened in 1915.
Also I see some Greeks complain about how they were portrayed in the movie; as thieves and bloody killers. I think it was like that actually. That does not prevent me enjoying beautiful Greek songs today, but I wonder how were they thinking while another movie, 300, was showing Persians like monsters. Probably they were so proud with their 300 Spartans which of their leader even barbarically killed a messenger.
Last but not least, this movie does not always show Turks as great heroes. It shows that they used to be very unorganised (you will remember: We are not Germans we are Ottoman), polygamist and even violent towards women sometimes.
I'd give this movie a 6/10, wasn't terrible but wasn't that good either, if it wasn't for reading subtitles I probably would have fallen asleep.
shareI liked the movie, acting, plot everything was nice, I would give it a 7 and I did. The only thing I couldn't like was how modern the film felt (visually) even though it is based almost 100 years ago! Or maybe I am feeling it just because I am in 2015, LOL. Crowe's performance was as usual great, direction was decent too.
shareI liked the movie, acting, plot everything was nice, I would give it a 7 and I did. The only thing I couldn't like was how modern the film felt (visually) even though it is based almost 100 years ago! Or maybe I am feeling it just because I am in 2015, LOL. Crowe's performance was as usual great, direction was decent too.
shareI fully agree with Savageparade.
These votes come from Turkish voters, obviously.
I would like to see the rating among Greek viewers (in the movie the Greeks are depicted almost as bereber bandits).
From a purely cinematographic point of view, the film is quite poor (the scene of the dinner at the candle lights is embarrasing).
It happens the same with movies from India. They are always extremely higly rated, because of the population from India. A kind of ponderation should be introduced to avoid this anomalies.
I am a Turk and a member of IMDB for almost a decade now. I accept the fact our people tend to rate things they are related to more than they deserve. I gave an 8 to this movie myself. Because it managed to state a lot of the historical and geographical components true. I understand from an outsiders point of view it does not look that important, but it is important to us. Because when hollywood makes a movie about Turkey or Turks they tell a lot of lies intentionally or beacuse of their ignorance with stupid stereotypical background. In water diviner, they even got the language right. Pronunciations are off , but words are correct at least. It would be too much to expect excellent pronunciation.
As a bad example, you can watch Taken 2. There are car chasing scenes with police using cars from 70`s. In their excuse, they may have a low budget to use better cars though.
For those who think movie was too bad, they are not being honest either. This may not be a masterpiece but it certainly deserves a 7 at least for its production value.
So, even it got a little bit more than it deserves in the ratings, it would not be the first overrated movie.
Dear akinsamsun,
I fully agree on what you say about your country. I only know Istambul, but it is remarkable what a fabulous and modern city it is, and it surprises the wrong image that hollywood usually shows from it. From this point of view, I am glad to watch a movie that shows the real refinement of 1900's Turkish society.
Notwithstanding the above, you must admit that this film is a concatenation of nonsenses (the dinner, the sandstorm, the 5 min trip to Gallipolli, etc.)
I already accept that i am kind of biased on this one and there are elements even bothers me. But, concatenation of nonsenses! is kind of an overstatement. It made me smile though. I should use it for other movies.
I don`t know how realistic Australian sandstorm is but i thought the point on that scene was about not leaving your brothers behind to set up the final story arc. I honestly do not remember the dinner. Gallipoli isn`t that close, they must have skipped the journey simply because there is nothing worthy to tell storywise.
The worst thing about the movie is the language barrier between actors. Olga suffers a lot becuse she has too many lines in Turkish.She obviously did her best and can not get any better than that in a few months preparation time. Turks fit just fine because they are supposed to be talking english as a foreign language.
Overall, not a very good movie but it certainly doesn`t deserve this much negative criticism. A decent historical movie with somewhat accuracy.
It's not only Turks. Please, The Hurt Locker got an Oscar.
shareI would give it 5/10. Very weak film on many levels. The turks raised the rating i bet.
shareWe need to keep in mind that this film was a labour of love; profit wasn't the motivation. The story of Gallipoli is dear to all Australians' hearts; it exactly captures the fighting spirit of God's country. And there are few better to tell the story (or at least a snapshot of it) than Russell; it was made by a proud Australian for proud Australians, and with a sympathetic view to both sides.
As to the Turks distorting the rating, get a life guys - the world's bigger than America! To me, and to most others, it was a great movie, well acted, directed and full of heart. I understand it may not be to everyone's tastes, particularly to those who haven't been impacted by Gallipoli, but that's no different to many movies coming from the USA which are extremely parochial. For instance, here's a bit of heresy for the rednecks - I didn't particularly like American Sniper.
The story of Gallipoli is dear to all Australians' hearts
Yeah I just saw it and it is super mediocre.
shareYeah I just saw it and it is super mediocre.
shareOh, look, another suspiciously negative troll-like review left in the comments section to be given attention from the masses. How perfectly droll.
share