RIFLE RANGE BOY

Diriliş: Ertuğrul (Turkish, Resurrection: Ertuğrul; 2014-19) Season 1-5, Netflix. They say it is all planned. Work has been on ever since the sick man of Europe crumbled at the might of the West. When the enemies stabbed their coup de grace into the heart of the pinnacle of their laurels, they knew they had to take matters into their own hands. The fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 heralded the Khalifat movement in India which subsequently saw the development of an Islamic State, Pakistan. But work was not complete, until and unless the glory of their past is resurrected. Leaders came, and leaders went. The world saw them all shrivel up and cosy up to the swaggering fingers of the enemies. My realisation into this topic was triggered way back 40 years ago. I had just read about Mustafa Kamal Ataturk in my Std 6 history books. Yes, there was a time when the Malaysian Education Ministry actually thought that students need to be exposed to more things than just Islamic history. Dis...

Kedi (Turkish, documentary; 2017) Director: Ceyda Torun They gaze into the horizon without a care in the world. If a dog wags its tail and jumps around your legs for attention, it is because it thinks you are God. A cat, on the other hand, does not give two hoots to your presence. Cats have perfected the way to strut the posterior in front of your face in defiance in an art form humans call 'catwalk'. The cats do not think of humans as God but instead perceive themselves as the intermediaries to the Gods. Thanks to their ancestors who were placed on a pedestal by Queen Cleopatra and her band of rulers, as well as the unique place conferred to members of the Cat Family in ancient belief systems (Al Uzza with her cat and Durga with her Bengal Tiger), cats wander with a chip on their shoulders. With their eight other lives to spare, they roam haughtily with their snouts high in the air as if breathing on imported air. Like in Boy George's 'Karma Chameleon', they...

Almanya - Welcome to Germany (Willkommen in Deutschland, German, 2011) This 2011 German award winning supposedly comedy film (not overtly funny - maybe by Deutschland standards) made by people of Turkish descent there. It is shown here as part of the European film festival. Since the 70s, Turkish workers started working in Germany. This film is told from the viewpoint of a grand daughter of one such immigrant Huseyni Yilmaz. Huseyni takes everybody for a trip back to Turkey. In midst of all, everybody has issues to handle. The youngest grandson, Cenk, is finding trouble whether he is German or Turkish. The narrator, Canan, a university student, living with her English boyfriend, had missed her periods! The story of Huseyni's marriage in Turkey, his migration, then his family's, the culture shock, the language barrier etcetera is told in instalments along the way as the clan prepares and go for the holiday. For a better life? When Huseyni returns home for the firs...