Cem Yilmaz Movies

Ever since the 1950s, television and the movies have been engaged in an ongoing war for the mind of the average Joe, but this battle for cultural supremacy takes a very different form in this comedy from Turkey. It's 1974, but in a small village in Southern Turkey, the 20th century is only grudgingly acknowledged by most of the residents. The state of the art of entertainment is represented by open-air film screenings hosted by Latif (Cezmi Baskin), a sleazy opportunist with access to a collection of aged motion pictures from Turkey and France. Nazmi (Altan Erkekli), the mayor of the town, bitterly dislikes Latif and boycotts his screenings out of spite -- though he encourages his wife and children to watch the films for free from the rooftop of a nearby building. Nazmi, however, has learned of a new invention that could conceivably put Latif out of business once and for all -- a "picture box" that seemingly pulls images and sounds out of the sky. Television is all but unknown in the village, and Nazmi is the first man in town to own a set, but having a TV and getting a decent picture are two very different matters, and the search for a strong signal eventually leads to a journey up a nearby mountain. Latif, meanwhile, counters the news of the "vision-tele" everyone is talking about by spreading word that the TV is the work of the Devil and a slap in the face of Islamic tradition. Vizontele was written by Yilmaz Erdogan, who also collaborated on the direction with O. Faruk Sorak. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi