Customer Reviews

Attila '74 - The Rape of Cyprus

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have to admit that the producer did a wonderful job in describing the 1974 events in Cyprus. He provided the details of the coup organized by Greece and its aftermath along with Turkey's intervention. This shows that he is not trying to blame Turkey for everything happenned in Cyprus. His work involves interviews with real people who went through real events. I was moved by his interview with Greek Cypriots who lost their relatives or houses right after the Turkish intervention. This movie helped me a lot to understand the sufferrings of Greek Cypriots and every Turkish Cypriot should watch it in order to understand that we are not the only ones who sufferred in Cyprus. The only critism I have is that the producer never mentioned the period between 1963-1974 and Turkish Cypriot sufferrings and acted as if Turkey intervened Cyprus just because of Greek organized coup, which is not true. He should have explained the events (mainly EOKA attacks against Turkish Cypriots) that led to Turkish intervention. A Turkish Cypriot movie showing the sufferrings of Turkish Cypriots during 1963-1974 will be a perfect complement to this movie.
It is a very powerful documentary because it is so real and everyone with slight interest in Cyprus history should watch it.

Interesting how so many of the comments are not about the film itself, but about the self righteousness of perceived truth.
One thing for sure, this war, what led up to it, the consequences that it had for the people of Cyprus, is truly a forgotten place in world history, very few people know that it happened and what really ocurred.
For that, this film has value, and whether it pretends or not to be a sole source is perhaps not important--any film will represent a point of view.
Was it a good film as a film? I found it interesting because the topic is interesting, and there should be much more visibility of what happened, to both sides, during and after the 1974 war.
My perspective on war is this:
I was in a restaurant during the Falkans War, they announced that the British had just sunk the Argentinian Cruiser, and 800 Argentinians had died. The room erupted with cheering.
My companion, who was from Cyprus, said: "But think of all the mothers"
The room went quiet.
This film does the same for me, for the people who suffered on both sides.

I purchased this so that I could watch what occured. My family is one of the 200,000 displaced greek cypriots from Famagusta. I brought this DVD home and my mother started crying immedietly when I showed it to her and told me to throw it away.

I couldn't watch it after seeing her react like that, then I showed it to my father and he said "I can't watch that" I feel so horrible for having purchased this and brining it into my parents house. I watched the DVD finally by myself and the parts that showed the aftermath of Turkey's invasion was extremly difficult to watch. To say the least it made me cry and was quite traumatic for me, but then again, it's very personal for me and my family.

I am a displaced "greek" Cypriot from the North part of Cyprus.
This documentary fails to examine what led to Turkey's invation nor any of the atrocities we commited against the weaker turkish minority which we oppressed for years. A turkish-Cypriot could find no job, not even as a waiter, and we forced them to live in ghettos, in terrible poverty.
IT WAS GREECE WHICH RAPED CYPRUS FIRST! In 1974 I was fourteen and I recall the first civilian casualties being from Greek tanks. Turkish tanks landed on the island five days later. This is never mentioned in our History textbooks. Most of us have been brainwashed through an intensely hellinocentric education where Greeks are always the good guys and the innocent victims, and through Greek Orthodox Religious Studies (an obligatory school subject since age five). Our schools breed racist Orthodox talibans who are totally intolerant of other religions, including other Christian denominations, and especially hostile towards Moslems. And when these talibans commit racist crimes (as in the 2005 murder of a turkish-Cypriot boy in Limassol) the press describe them simply as remote cases of mental illness instead of as mass products of our education system.
The church here is so influential that I consider my country as the " Iran of the Christian World ". There even exist Iran-type church courts which nowadays (fortunately) deal mainly with Family Law cases.
The Republic of Cyprus is the only European Union country where authorities violate human rights (US State Department Report on Human Rights, 2006) and the police torture citizens (Amnesty International Press Release on the torture of two handcuffed students by 12 policemen, April 2006). Trafficking of women for prostitution is semi-legal, big scandals are never resolved, night bombers, murderers and drug barons are seldom brought to justice, etc., etc. All this in half an island of 600.000 people with one of the highest percentages of policemen in Europe! And the law very rarely applies to the rich and pious for reasons of "public interest".
I don't think the situation in the Northern part is that bad. There is a lower crime rate, it is a secular state where moslem clergy have no political power and it does not foster the illusion of being a "European" country. People there are more genuine and less spoilt.
Although the so-called "official" Republic of Cyprus is an independent member of the UN and the European Union it is in fact A PUPPET STATE OF GREECE:
1.We have been programmed to consider ourselves Greeks and not Cypriots. If Greece wins in an international contest in which Cyprus has lost, we celebrate as if our own country has won. We are ashamed to consider ourselves simply citizens of our country without any prefixes. If a native dares call himself a Cypriot and not a Greek, he is accused of being a traitor. (Same as if Norwegians were forced to consider themselves Swedes just because they speak a similar language and have the same religion!)
2.Cyprus is the only country in the world without its own National Anthem (we use Greece's).
3.Our national flag is semi-official (it is subordinate to the Greek flag which is conspicuous on all government buildings, schools, churches, clubs, in the army, even in athletic facilities). During soccer games Cypriot flags are considered "provocative" symbols and are confiscated by the security but Greek flags are permited.
4.Major political decisions taken by our governement must first obtain the OK of the Greek prime minister.
5.Our army is run by officers from Greece.
In April 2004 the United Nations, with the support of the United States, carried out a referendum for peace and reunification. The vast majority of greek-Cypriots voted No, employing all sorts of excuses (the president even wept on TV in his attempt to convince people vote No), while turkish-Cypriots voted Yes. The government, backed by the large communist-turned-nationalist party, considers this "No" as a victory against the almighty United States !!!
It seems that most of us believe the ideal solution to be the construction of a Time-Machine that would transport us back to before 1974 and reestablish greek dynasty in the island.
Deprogramming greek-Cypriots will not be an easy task and cinema can make a significant contribution. This film however is biased and superficial. It fails to clearly show younger generations what really happened before and during 1974 so as to prevent the recurrence of similar events in the future.

As a person who have been living in Cyprus since 1967, I can easily say that, the content of this DVD doesn't reflect the realities of what was lived in Cyprus in 1974. It is a one-sided, nationalist reflection of most probably an ill personality. I am rating this DVD as 1-star. That single star is for the fact that, it is a very good example of how one can twist the realities of history according his desires.

The best way to put this is that this is a very good documentary of the events that transpired in cyprus in 1974.
The scenes were shot just after the conflict and the people that the filmaker speaks to have fresh memories of the events that transpired. There are some funeral scenes that are a bit intense and it seems that the mouners are playing to the camera a bit. Being a history buff , I thought the filmaker did a good job , got alot of the green line shots and did his best to show that Turkey was the evil invader in his opinion. I don't remember him speaking to many Turks though.

No film can tell the real sufferings from both sides. The film is biased a priori and doesn't reflect the truth at all.. Historians will judge based on sound data and tell us both the Turks and Greeks about the Island. Many questions: Why UK didn't act as she must have, why massacres done by EOKA to Turks before the invasion is not mentioned? why many common graves are not mentioned?, why Greece didn't stop the Coup D'etateers? And many.. SO Let's stop discussing about the past and see a common beneficial and friendly future to bıth nations. Love to all Greeks and Turks who suffered.

As a Greek-Cyrpiot who lost his home to the Turks in 1974, I was hoping that this film would show the atrocities and crimes conducted by the Turkish army when they invated Cyprus. After all it is a film by a "well-known" (so he claims) Greek Cypriot director. Boy, was I fooled. This is a disgusting, shameless propaganda in favour of the communists and Makarios (who was probably the one to blame for most of Cyprus' problems in the 60s and 70s).

This communist propaganda tool doesn't even bother with the facts or the actual invasion. The Turkish onslaught on Cyprus, the crimes of the Turkish army against the Greeks and the loss of life and property get only a few minutes on film. The rest of the film is a gloryfication of Makarios and his megalomania and selfimportance that destroyed the island. The filmmaker's shameless obsession to disparage all Nationalists and their fight for Union with Greece, is frigthening to almost a criminnal point. It is scary to think that another Greek actually promotes these opinions. Any Greek should be angry and feel insulted and infuriated by people like Cacoyiannis and this film. No wonder the Turks are winning the international war of words on Cyprus, and the Aegean sea. We can thank the likes of the director for that.

The nationalists who fought the British for the union with Greece are portrayed as deranged criminals who destroyed Cyprus. No mention is given to the fact that the communists colaborated with the Turks and the Brits against the Greeks Nationalists in the 50s, causing the death of hundreds of Greek freedom fighters. Grivas, the man who succesfully fought the Brits, is portrayed as an imperialist who was losing his mind in the fight for the Union with Greece.

Throughout the "interviews", light and camera angles are used to convey the directors feelings towards Makarios and the communists (he worships them), and against the nationalists. At some points the film feels as staged and acted as an Oliver Stone conspiracy-theory production.The director uses standard Hollywood overdubs and well staged shots to ensure that the viewer is convinced that all nationalists were out to kill the innocent masses. Just watch the crowd delirium scene at the rally where one person is shot and the following well staged interviews with the victim's family.

If you want to find out about the beautiful island of Cyprus and its thousand years old Greek history, as well as the 1974 invasion by Turkey and the crimes that followed, THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT MEDIUM. This is simply a one sided point of view by a person who just happened to have the access to the film equipment at the right time. I am not even sure if this film was sponsered by any Greek resources since it almost justifies the Turkish invasion.

SHAME SHAME SHAME.

ÒMichael Cacoyannis turned his cameras away from ancient Greek tragedy and Zorba to events happening on his own island, Cyprus. He worked with a small camera and no actors. The chorus, as we have known in Electra, Iphigenia or the Trojan Women, are the tragic figures of the tragedy of Cyprus, of Cacoyannis¢ own people. These people were betrayed by the Greek military junta of Athens and then invaded and raped by what was considered the best army in Europe, the Turkish army. These were, in the words of the British Foreign Secretary, James Callaghan, refugees in their own land.
Michael Cacoyannis is not afraid to castigate the major powers and the Greeks for the disaster they brought down on this small Mediterranean island, which still today remains divided with the problem unsolved.
Attila ¡74 is reality. That is why in reviews in these pages, Greeks and Turks wrote against it. I am a Cypriot and I say bravo to the honesty of Michael Cacoyannis.Ó

so this dvd, is what i grew up with. because i am a christian orthodox cypriot. 25 years old, i know that what you will see on this video is not quite unbiased. there is nothing as such when refferring to modern history. the facts though remain the same. as soon as cyprus was free and independant to choose her fate after the heroic struggle of the right wing nationalists for freedom, and the hiding and traditory acts of the left, it was then that the greek junta was instructed to leave cyprus in the hands of makarios, the looser leader, the people's only choice since he didnt leave anyone oppose him, and eventually the distruction of the island. then the turks that claimed to be suffering in cyprus by the greek cypriots were used for propaganda from turkey, to invade the island. turkey had maps of cyprus, divided as it is today, on the walls of elementary schools in turkey, since the 1950s. so coup or not, turkey had its plans. and the video shows a bit of the pain of the normal people, that lost perents, brothers and sisters. WE GREEK CYPRIOTS KNOW WE ARE THE WEAK ONES IN ARMS, BUT NO CORRUPT TURK CAN KILL OUR SPIRIT.