4/10
A film with no focus
31 October 2010
Some reviewers say this is not a comedy but a drama. I would say while Osmanli Cumhuriyeti is a comedy attempt, it ends up as unsuccessful drama.

The plot is very thin and Müjde tries to create drama through portraying how the Sultan has to go through embarrassing situations in daily life as Osmanli Cumhuriyeti is no longer free and sovereign.

But there is simply not enough substance here as a collection of unimportant details fail to bring neither comedy nor drama. For example, taxi drivers do not recognize him and foreign diplomats put him down.

My feeling is that Müjde was probably thinking like a Turk on the street rather than a filmmaker while shooting this movie. First he would need to have chosen between comedy and drama but I fail to see how a comedy could be made as the collapse of Ottoman Empire is a national tragedy. Where can be the humor when the Sultan is treated as a nobody ? Second he should have spent serious time and effort on the drama or comedy body. As I said before, there is no substance here. The drama needs emotions yet nowhere in the film Müjde can captivate our emotions and make us 'watch the film' as our captivated emotions are shepherded thorough the plot.

Both the director and the actors are talented people and it is a waste to see their effort go bust. They could and can do much better ! But Müjde has to focus on filmmaking and has to stop interviewing pop singers and second rate models on TV. So are we surprised that a capable man with no focus makes a film that is out of focus ? No.

As a Turk I see how good-willed and idealistic they are for they also attempt to show what would have happened if there was no Atatürk. But this is simply too much. OC is an attempt to make a comedy out of a big drama while attempting to teach us history in an idealistic way as if in a documentary !
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