Turkish war film set in Iraq demonises US troops

[Bill_Thompson]

Turkish war film set in Iraq demonises US troops

BENJAMIN HARVEYIN ISTANBUL

IN THE most expensive Turkish film ever made, American soldiers in Iraq
gatecrash a wedding and shoot a little boy in front of his mother.

They kill dozens of innocent people with random machine gun fire, shoot the
groom in the head and drag those left alive to Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison,
where a Jewish doctor cuts out their organs, which he sells to rich people
in New York, London and Tel Aviv.


Valley of the Wolves Iraq, starring Hollywood actor Billy Zane as an
American army officer, feeds off the increasingly negative feelings many
Turks harbour toward their longtime NATO allies - the Americans.

The film, which reportedly cost some £5.6 million, is a work of fiction and
does not purport to level allegations against American troops, but it is
part of a new genre of popular culture in Turkey that demonises the United
States.

Advance tickets are already selling out for the film, which is due to open
today.

In addition to Turkey, the film is set to be shown in more than a dozen
other countries - including the United States and Britain.

Zane plays a self-professed "peacekeeper sent by God".

Asked if he thought the film was anti-American, Zane said: "This screenplay
is not against my country's people... I am doing this movie because I am a
patriot. I'm against all wars, because wars don't have happy endings."

Valley of the Wolves Iraq opens with a true story: On 4 July, 2003, in
northern Iraq, US troops raided and ransacked a Turkish special forces
office, threw hoods over the heads of 11 Turkish special forces officers and
held them in custody for more than two days.

http://news.scotsman.com/movies.cfm?id=171992006