Feyzo, The Polite One (1978)

Great Film overall

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

"Kibar Feyzo" is one of the most prominent films in Turkish film history. It's a satirical comedy narrating the story of a peasant whose village is in the southeastern region of Turkey where feudalism is still partly intact in rural areas. From this perspective, I feel the need to give a little background information for whom has limited or no information about what Turkey's condition were in 70's.Feudalism, or "agha" (landowner) system has a long history on the land of Turkey. After Turkey became a republic, there had been attempts to constitute a "land reform", but always met obstructions. Still, to this day, there are many many villages which feudalism still applies, especially in eastern and southeastern region of Turkey. There are still "aghas", tribe leaders and so on. Some landlords are (and have been) even parliament members, they have a considerable weight in politics. So I imagine it was not very easy to broadcast a film like this. But this film is not only about the suffering of peasants, but also about "peasants" of city, laboring class, the bottom of the pyramid. When Feyzo works in the city, he finds out how a huge advantage being syndicated is. He gradually learns that when there is repression, being organized is essential for the struggle."Letting daughter marry someone if money is paid" practice is still being applied in some regions. I believe director wanted to provoke a reaction against this. Women rights issue is still a problem which Turkey is facing. Also the film directs criticism against materialism.After the military coup d'etat in 1960, a new constitution had been put into action. This constitution was a more libertarian, humane one compared to its predecessor (and also successor). But there was a cold war going on and Turkey's scene was involving a lot of rightist-leftist conflict. This conflicts started to be called as "anarchy" - and the term "anarchist" was used especially for leftist organizations and individuals. A lot of blood was shed, so many died. In 1970 and later on, new laws were passed and some liberties was restricted, especially the ones regarding unions, rallying, protesting and freedom of speech. In the film, the writings on the walls signifies a reaction. In the scene when "Maho agha" is shouting at the peasants angrily as he complains for ingratitude, he says: "Here you're, 141 or 142 heads, and I'm feeding you all." 141 and 142 are numbers of two notorious, well-known laws aimed at leftist ideas which was restricting activities and propaganda regarding classes and class based ideas (removed from effect a about decade later). There are many other references regarding conflicts and problems of Turkey.There were (and still are) also many structural difficulties (financial, cultural, you name it) which would be hard to write down at full length. In an environment like this, I believe anyone would consider this movie a brave, daring and tempting attempt. Turkish cinema had produced satirical comedies before and produced more later on, but this film is representing its own merits and it stands on the edge of a new era. It's worth mentioning that in 1980 there was another military coup d'etat and another constitution was instructed, which was in harmony with neoliberalism and conservativism. I may look like I'm exaggerating this socio-political aspect of the film, but this aspects are combined with strong elements of satire and comedy, and this is what makes this film special. It also has very funny moments which have been cult jokes in everyday life. They may seem a little funnier to Turkish audience, because understanding the sense humour of another culture may be a little difficult. But this film has really affected Turkish culture, alongside being a part of that.The characters in film are not very deep, since the focus is not directly on them. But some of the characters are deliberately selected to represent figures in real life. These figures include religious ones, politicians, bureaucrats, business men and so on. Every actor/actress on the cast list did very well. Dubbing sometimes becomes irritating, though. Why editing was poor in those days, I don't know. Probably because of financial and technical difficulties.In summary, this film is a satirical comedy mainly about the exploitation, repression and suffering of lower class. The film focuses on problems peculiar to Turkey, in a sense. So it may require the viewer to be a somewhat familiar with the problems of Turkey in order to appreciate (which I tried to shortly explain some of them above). So, even if you're not from Turkey, I recommend this film if you wouldn't mind exploring another culture and its set of problems.

This movie is the best example for a movie which describes the severe situations behind the mask of fun. You laugh as hell and you see what people suffered quite a couple of decades ago. A perfect dilemma of joy and sorrow. Even the sadness of the last scene is soothed with lead actor, faithful departed Kemal Sunal's (RIP) skillful role-playing. He is an expert. So sad he passed away early. So, this is a funny movie and I'd like to quote some funny parts of it. (If you did not watch the film, still you can read.) The funniest thing about this movie is the "dismissals" of Feyzo. At that time, husband should pay quite a lot money to bride's family. Feyzo and Bilo want Gulo like hell. Exploiting this situation, Gulo's father opens an auction between two husband options. Feyzo do not have enough money to pay her father to marry Gulo but finally, he gives the highest bid which he can not afford at once: He agrees with father of Gulo to make equal payments. Aga is the lord of the domain, and Feyzo also persuades Aga as the insurer of his payments. Kibar Feyzo means Kind Feyzo. He likes being modern and everything. He wears a white hat in the wedding, which is same as Aga's, which drives Aga crazy. He dismisses Feyzo at once and he goes to City. He works in the city and when the payment is due, Aga sends him a letter to come back (since he is the insurer and don't want to pay money himself.). But when he comes, he needs just a few bucks and he builds a public toilet in the village. People of the village wonders that "new" entity in their village and make a queue. Just after Feyzo fulfills the payment, Aga comes. He writes on the toilet at once "free for Aga". Aga asks "what is this?" and he says "this is a public toilet, 5 bucks for pee, 10 bucks for poo, free for you" then Aga says, "I'll poo, and then some other one poo just over my poo, are you crazy. Have you ever seen in your life "a poo over Aga's poo". And he orders the toilet to be destroyed and sacks Feyzo again. Feyzo in the city again, there he learns about worker unions, strikes and all. He learns that in the city, no girl is "for sale", too. When the next payment is due, he summoned again and this time he tells many things to villagers, which Aga don't like at all and bans him from the city. Feyzo, who needs to work in the city to pay the next payment, but banned, tries to make himself sacked. However Aga won't let him go. He makes many funny things in this period, which he wants Aga to sack him. He writes "tyrant Aga (Faso Aga)" on the wall, which Feyzo also do not know the exact meaning, but somehow heard in the worker union meetings as "Tyrant employer". Again Aga asks what it means an Feyzo answers in a very funny manner in Turkish: It's something like faggot, something like pimp... It is one of the most funniest works of Turkish film-making history. But it also draws a perfect picture of the situation in eastern Turkey in 70's. This film is a phenomenon. A "must-be- seen"

This is one of the best movies ever made !!! It is very funny and coevally it shows the real life in the east of turkey at the 1970's. But its unbelievable funny :-))) "Feyzo" finished the army and comes back to his town, where he wants to marry with "Gülo". But there are some intricacies. His mother don't want to pay the bullocks and the money which Gülo's father wants for "Gülo", because at this time it was tribe for the people. The other problem is "Bilo", he started and finished the army at the same time like "Feyzo", and he wants to marry with Gülo, too. But "Gülo" loves "Feyzo"! But he can forget all of this before one man don't give his OK, he is the merciless chief of the village, "Maho Aga".

One of the best Turkish comedies forever!I have just watched millions of comedies but this is one of the funniest and most intelligent I've ever seen. Most of the American ‚New Hollywood' comedies are silly and too simple in my opinion. Nothing compares to ‚Kibar Feyzo'. 80 minutes entertainment! Kemal Sunal alias Kibar Feyzo (in English: ‚the gentle Feyzo') is a good and naive guy from a village in Turkey. He wants to marry a girl, but her father (Ihsan Yüce, who also wrote the script) is against this marriage as long as Feyzo does not pay for his daughter, an old traditional deal in the past of Turkey. Feyzo does not have any money, so he tries everything to get his girl. He earns money in Istanbul, fights against the morality, learns a lot of things in Istanbul, e.g. that you can earn some money with a lavatory. So he builds a lavatory in his village (with some pieces of wood), but ‚Maho' (Sener Sen), a so-called mayor of the village, destroys everything Feyzo wants to do...The story has original twists and wonderful moments. It's about emancipation, told in a very funny way. Great characters, great performances and a lot of original gags. It's hard not to fall in love with this most wanted comedy of Turkey's 70's.