Show Jt r New film in Turkey Americas America's 24 reflect uneasy divergent perspectives Karl Vick t The Washing foriR V J V. V W 1 I VV UJ J Z ZI ZIn I In Valley of the Wolves Iraq US U.S. soldiers shoot small children at point-blank point range harvest kidneys from Iraqi pris pris- for shipment to Tel Aviv blow a Muslim cleric out of his minaret and to top it all off I display utter contempt for I Turkish foreign policy The feature film set a box office record in its first weekend after opening in more theaters than any movie in Turkish his his- tory Meanwhile the American fc t television series 24 4 di did not noti I i i open at all aU in Turkey last fall despite high r ratings over ver- over the the th three previous seasons for agent Jack Bauer and the swashbuckling Counter- Counter Terrorist Unit The problem In season four the terrorists intent on destroying America were Tu Turks i l' l 1 Its kind of like firing missile missiles missiles mis- mis siles sile af aE f each other Yasar said of the pop culture war now playing between the United States and Turkey The unemployed cook was one of million people who saw Valley of the Wolves in its first six days in Turkey It opened last week in Europe where the US U.S. Army Anny issued a notice warning US U.S. service members to stay away from affected multiplexes and to avoid getting into discussions about the movie with people you dont don't know That two NATO allies that often speak of mutual respect regard each other so darkly onscreen onscreen onscreen on on- screen says a good deal about the uneasy state of relations between Turkey and the United States each of them proud a abit abit abit bit insular and deeply concerned concerned con con- about the war in Iraq But as protests roil an Islamic world deeply offended by caricatures caricatures caricatures cari cari- of the prophet Muhammad whose depiction the faith forbids the state of entertainment in Muslim Turkey also offers a lesson in how easy it remains for cultures cultures cultures cul cul- tures to talk past each other in inan inan inan even perhaps especially an era of global satellite com com- Its It's hard seeing eye to eye when perspectives are profoundly different None of the atrocities in Valley of the Wolves for instance shocked Ulas Aker in inthe inthe inthe the least These are things we knew were going on anyway the cafe owner said pulling on his suit coat as he emerged from a Thursday matinee in downtown downtown downtown down down- town Istanbul where the movie was playing in 63 of the city's 72 theaters US U.S. troops strafing an Iraqi wedding It was two years ago that Turkish newspapers splashed news of an aerial bombardment of a wedding that thatUS US U.S. commanders insisted was a gathering of of insurgents Johnny this is not the chief terrorist the daily Sabah wrote sarcastically beside a photo of a musician They call him santor He makes music music Organ harvesting Aker said he had heard rumors rumo in the movies movie's surgery scenes a stocky female American soldier soldier soldier sol sol- sol sol- dier strips Iraqi soldiers for stacking in a human pyramid If anything weighed on Aker as he left the theater it was the movies movie's pace We both thought there'd be bemore bemore bemore more action said his companion compan compan- ion Erkan 26 I Iwas Iwas Iwas was completely addicted to the series The TV series that inspired the movie was distinctly Turkish Its protagonist Pol at Alemdar was an agent of Turkeys Turkey's deep state the elusive elusive elusive elu elu- sive quasi-fascist quasi network said to remain permanently in Turkeys Turkey's official establishment while elected governments come and go The deep state sees its mission as guarding Turkeys Turkey's national essence even if that means commingling with unsavory elements in ways that could only be guessed at until as actually happened in 1996 the passengers passengers passengers gers involved in a car wreck turned out to include a police commander a mafia chief and anda a former fonner beauty queen On the TV show Pol at once kissed Sharon Stone He moved to the big screen to avenge the notorious events of July 4 2003 which went largely unnoticed in the he United States That day US U.S. troops arrested a team of Turkish special special special cial forces in northern Iraq The Turks were smuggling arms to ethnic brethren squared off against the Kurds who were allied with US U.S. forces already deeply miffed at Turkey for denying the US U.S. Infantry Division an invasion invasion invasion inva inva- sion route from the north Photos of handcuffed Turks with bags over over their heads deeply humiliated and angered the Turkish public This attack is not against us but against the Turkish nation one Turkish commander intones in the film mm Another blows his brains out in shame But the film also reflects deep skepticism about US U.S. intentions which opinion polls show is co common on among Muslim countries In one scene a man wearing the black coat fedora and of a Hasidic Jew lew gets up and walls walks jei c. c f T i t out our of a restaurant moments moments before reveals that the place is wired to explode The moment slyly evokes not one but two conspiracy theories often heard in Muslim societies societies societies soci soci- that no Jews died in the World Trade Center because they had warning and that Israeli agents are hard at work in northern Iraq helping the Kurds The villain is a US U.S. Special Forces commander Billy Zane who keeps a mural of the theLast theLast theLast Last Supper on his office wall walland walland walland and declares I am the son of God His snarling homicidal team A-team wearing gold chains and mohawks are only the most aggressive Americans in a movie that relentlessly reinforces reinforces reinforces rein rein- forces the image of the United States as a country in love with killing Unfortunately that is the perception rightly or wrongly and this perception is fueled by bythe bythe bythe the European perception as aswell aswell aswell well which is not too much different said Mehmet Ali AU a prominent Turkish columnist and anchorman who said he admired the ers They have played with the inner feelings unsatisfied feelings feelings feelings feel feel- ings of Turkish public opinion and they are making money Yet Turkish audiences also flocked to 24 the sleekly breathless Fox network series starring Kiefer Sutherland asan as asan asan an terrorism anti-terrorism agent that is anchored firmly in the premise that it is America that's under attack Completing the exchange the producers of Valley of the Wolves Iraq with a budget of 10 million the most expensive film ever made in Turkey say it will be released in the United States at some point The films film's screen on-screen credits are in English as is as-is is a version of its Web site One thing the site also Iso featured featured fea rea- but quickly removed was an advertisement offering help obtaining US U.S. residency A J. J t t. k I r j. j r. r I i |