American Views Abroad

 
Reports are mixed on reactions around the world to the latest photos just released on the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib. German public TV evening news claimed some photos are so alarming and harsh that not even Arab stations were allowing them to be shown. There were interviews with Iraqi citizens whose comments ran along the line of how to place these photos in context with the US mission of bringing democracy to Iraq. What, they are asking, have torture and humiliation to do with democracy? Other news reports state that most of the people in the Middle East seem to be taking their release in stride. Perhaps it is best to look under the surface of immediate raw emotions. Perhaps things need to linger before they come to a head. One example here is the latest Turkish movie, Kurtlar Vadisi or Valley of the Wolves Iraq, which has become one of the most successful films among the Turkish or Turkish-German population here in Germany, not to mention a top hit in Turkey. Based on a Turkish TV series, the film deals with a real event which happened on 4 July 2003 when US forces stormed a Turkish base in northern Iraq and took Turkish soldiers captive with hoods over their heads to interrogate them. Turkey is a NATO partner. According to an article in today's Der Tagesspiegel, a Berlin newspaper, this seared into the Turkish consciousness. Der Tagesspiegel reports that over 5500 attended this film in Wedding in the first week, in Neukoelln 8000. Wedding and Neukoelln are neighborhoods in Berlin. There has never been such a successful Turkish film shown here before. It is also the most expensive film ever produced in Turkey.

To put it mildly, the Americans are not the good guys in this film. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Berlin paper describes how when the lights go out the film tells the tale of the Turkish soldiers being led away by the Americans 'with the sad bitterness of a disappointed lover.' The movie-goers sit in silence watching it all, and according to most media reports, believing it as well. Is the movie too one-sided is a common and immediate reaction. The response is no since the Turks have done nothing more or less than what any Hollywood film does. Rambo style action films, whether based on real events or not, seldom, if ever, color any side in shades other than black and white.
- posted by Gloria @ 6:06 PM