Film shows U.S. as bad guys Turkish movie based on Iraq

Matthew Schofield Knight Ridder Newspapers Feb. 15, 2006 12:00 AM

BERLIN - A Turkish-made film that portrays American soldiers in Iraq as brutal and callous killers is setting attendance records in Turkey and has just opened throughout Europe.

From the opening seconds to the dramatic conclusion, the movie, The Valley of the Wolves - Iraq, portrays Americans as wearing the black hats.

In one scene, an American doctor, played by actor Gary Busey, is furious because troops keep killing Iraqi prisoners before they reach the Abu Ghraib prison. The doctor's problem? If the Iraqis are dead, he can't harvest their organs to send to Israel.

The movie, the most expensive production in Turkish film history, has been a success in Turkey since it opened Feb. 3. Would-be viewers must wait weeks for tickets. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to Turkish press reports, recommended the film to friends after a private screening. His wife noted, "It's a beautiful film."

It's not clear how well the film will do in its wider European release. No weekend box-office figures are available. Theaters showing the film in Berlin were packed, managers said, but much of the crowd was of Turkish descent. The film has yet to be released in the United States.

U.S. military officers have advised troops in Europe to avoid theaters showing the film and not to discuss it with strangers, though interviews with filmgoers in Berlin found little anti-Americanism.

"This movie isn't about how horrible Americans are," said Beyhan Haci, 60, a Turk who has lived in Germany for years and has seen the film twice. "It's about the horrible mistakes the American government has made in Iraq."

Analysts in Turkey say that attitude isn't prevalent there.

"American soldiers are the bad guys around here, no question," said Sedat Laciner, director of the International Strategic Research Organization in Ankara, Turkey's capital. "But we are not so different in our attitudes than much of the rest of the world. And remember, Turkey is far less anti-American than any country in the Middle East besides Israel."

The movie is standard Hollywood action-adventure fare but with the villains wearing the Stars and Stripes. The heroes are dapper and kind; the Americans are slovenly, sadistic and stupid. An American who questions why a comrade is spraying a metal container full of Iraqi prisoners with bullets is quickly killed.

Some of the incidents in the film draw on actual events, though they're portrayed in such a way as to impose the worst of motives on the Americans: U.S. soldiers guffaw as they set dogs on prisoners at Abu Ghraib, lie in wait so they can target wedding guests when they celebrate with gunfire and open fire on a mosque just as the call to prayer is sounded.

Other scenes portray Americans as cartoonishly evil. When confronted by the Turkish hero, the main U.S. villain, played by American Billy Zane, surrounds himself with children, saying he knows the hero's "weak spot."

Yusuf Kanli, editor in chief of the Turkish Daily News, said the film is grounded in a real event known as the "bag incident," which cemented the movie's popularity in Turkey.

"Abu Ghraib is a deep wound, but it's war, and war is never clean," Kanli said. "But what happened in July 2003 can never be forgotten by any Turk."

In that incident, U.S. troops arrested 11 Turkish special-forces officers in Iraq and walked them from their headquarters with bags over their heads. It was considered a betrayal by a trusted ally. Turkish newspapers dubbed it the "Rambo Crisis." Opinion polls rank it as the most humiliating moment in Turkish history.

Fadi Hakura, who studies Turkish politics and culture in London for the British research center Chatham House, said that although "the bag incident" continues to rankle in Turkey, most Turks believe in improving relations with the United States.

He noted that many Turks attend college in the United States, including the children of the prime minister.

"There is a noticeable shift in attitudes since the start of the war in Iraq," he said. "But I wouldn't call it anti-Americanism as much as a reflection of a great deal of anxiety about what the United States is doing in the region."