BERLIN -- Battling bloodthirsty American forces is proving a box office bonanza in Turkey, where "Valley of the Wolves: Iraq" continues to dazzle auds and break B.O. records.
Exhibs can expect more of the same from the upcoming "Metal Storm," a film adaptation of the bestselling novel about a U.S. invasion of Turkey.
Both "Valley of the Wolves" and "Metal Storm" are riding a wave of anti-Americanism that began with the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but was bolstered by a confrontation in 2003 in which U.S. forces seized 11 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq who were allegedly plotting to assassinate a Kurdish official. U.S. soldiers handcuffed the Turks and covered their heads with sacks -- something many Turks considered an extreme humiliation.
The incident plays a key role in Serdar Akar's "Valley of the Wolves" and has also confirmed for many the war-mongering portrayal of the U.S. in Orkun Ucar and Burak Turna's book "Metal Storm," a Turkish "Red Dawn" in which the U.S. launches a blitzkrieg attack from neighboring Iraq, annihilating Turkish forces while U.S. warplanes target Istanbul. In the end, a Turkish agent manages to save the world by detonating a nuclear bomb in Washington D.C.
Istanbul-based Ozen Film is producing "Metal Storm," set to shoot later this year and sure to add plenty of fuel to the burning controversy already surrounding "Valley of the Wolves."
That movie, which reportedly cost a record $10 million, enjoyed the most successful opening of any film ever in Turkey. Pic has totaled more than 3.5 million admissions since its Feb. 3 start and is expected to reach 6 million.
In Germany, which has one of the biggest Turkish populations outside of Turkey, it has sold an impressive 265,000 tickets, but has also sparked a storm of protests by government and Jewish leaders who have called on exhibs to pull the pic from theaters.
"This irresponsible film does not promote integration, but rather hate and mistrust against the West," says Edmund Stoiber, the powerful premier of the southern state of Bavaria. "I urge the cinema owners in Germany to pull this racist and anti-Western hate film immediately," he said.
In the film, U.S. forces, led by a devout Christian commander played by Billy Zane, gun down dozens of innocent people at a wedding, shoot the groom in the head and drag the survivors to Abu Ghraib prison -- where a Jewish doctor, played by Gary Busey, removes prisoners' organs for wealthy patients in New York, London and Tel Aviv.
"It's the most anti-American film I've ever seen," says Ahmet Doyacioglu, head of the Ankara Film Commission. "Basically, it's a Turkish Rambo in Iraq."
Yet Doyacioglu says it's not just anti-Americanism that is generating the film's success: Turkish auds are eager for more homegrown films, and the pic is based on the hugely successful "Valley of the Wolves" TV series, which also stars Necati Sasmaz as the indomitable hero.
"Turkey has close economic and military ties with the U.S., so I wouldn't overestimate the film's anti-Americanism. Turkey is not suddenly going to turn into an anti-American country."
Officials of the Central Council of Jews in Germany have slammed the pic for stoking anti-Semitic sentiment, while other politicos have expressed worries that it could radicalize Turkish youths in Germany, calling for the film's rating to be changed from age 16 to adult.
Germany's leading exhib Cinemaxx pulled the pic from its theaters after a two-week run. Although the company denies the move was due to political pressure, it admits one of the factors behind the decision was the film's "strongly polarizing" effect, adding it did not want to "contribute to the already tense situation."
Other exhibs are playing down the controversy, noting it has had little effect on the pic's box office take.
"The film has been doing extremely well, but viewers are not going out of their way to see it because of some politician's comment," says Juergen Paster, marketing chief at Berlin-based exhib To the Movies, which operates six theaters here, including the Alhambra in Wedding and Karli in Neukoelln -- the two Berlin districts with the largest Turkish populations in the city and where the film has been doing exceptional business.
"Valley of the Wolves" has remained in the top 10 in Germany since opening at No. 5 on Feb. 9, and has so far grossed $2.2 million. Playing in Switzerland, Holland, the U.K., Austria, Belgium and Denmark, pic opens in France next month.
"Everyone is saying it's very anti-American, but it's all exaggerated. Like all war films, you have a good guy trying to save the world from some kind of bad soldier, and in this case the bad soldier is an American," says Anil Sahin, head of the pic's German distrib Maxximum Films.
Despite Sahin's attempts to downplay controversy, the film's success comes at a time of continuing protests over the publication of Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammed, and general displeasure in the Muslim and Arab world with the war in Iraq.
The pic's anti-American sentiments would surely stir up some controversy if it gets a Stateside release; producers Pana Films say they are weighing several U.S. distribution offers.
(Katja Hofmann and Ali Jaafar in London contributed to this report.)
Contact Ed Meza at
ed.meza@mannaa.de