G.O.R.A.
D.Ömer Faruk Sorak :: Turkey 2004 :: 127 min :: 35mm :: BKM FILM

Generally satisfied to get by on a quick buck and a wisecrack on the side, Arif, an Anatolian huckster of rugs and fake UFO snapshots, is hardly the type one would peg as a galactic revolutionary. Even when he's kidnapped by aliens, alongside an assortment of males from across the Earth, to serve as a slave to the inhabitants of the planet Gora, Arif's initial interest is simply to escape. But when Arif takes a shine to the lovely Princess Ceku, who's a lot more sympathetic to our species than her fellow Gorans, Arif's agenda gets a bit more complicated.

With the dour, tubby Turkish rasta Bob Marly Faruk and the rather flamboyant android 216, Arif sets out to find the mysterious figure who's been plaguing him with holographic messages, to gain the skills to defeat the treacherous Goran commander and bring freedom to their planet, ours and all between.

(For those familiar with) ...The Man Who Saved the World (a.k.a. Turkish Star Wars), the hilarious, low-budget Turkish sci-fi mess? Consider this the flashy, modern, self-aware update. The sets looks great and the special effects are nothing to sneeze at, and G.O.R.A. is loaded with winks at science fiction staples like Star Wars and The Matrix. But at the core of G.O.R.A. is Turkey's most popular comedian Cem Yilmaz, who wrote the script and handled the role of Arif (plus five others-see if you can spot 'em!).

The guy really does have a comeback for every occasion, no matter how absurd or daunting. This nutty spoof of the space-opera genre is not only one of the most expensive Turkish productions ever, it's also one of the most successful, doing major box office and helping revive the country's once vital movie industry, which has been in a slump for some time. -Rupert Bottenberg