Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good!, December 24, 2003
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.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Politics of Film, September 11, 2005
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.
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19 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
One side of the coin, December 5, 2005
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!
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 down to earth 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 believed to be 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.
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