From the Village to the City

This was not a standalone film but a sequel to Salak Milyoner. Four brothers, Saffet, Himmet, Hayret and Gayret, find buried treasure in their village and travel down to Ankara to convert the gold into cash through a jeweller from their home town, Ali Rıza. Both the village and the city scenes were shot in different parts of Ankara. The cast is the Arzu Film company at its strongest: Kemal Sunal, Zeki Alasya, Metin Akpınar and Halit Akçatepe. Sunal is not carrying this alone; the four of them advance by colliding. Ertem Eğilmez directed. It runs eighty-two minutes and wastes none of them. The gulf between city and village is not treated as an emotional problem here but as direct comic material. The city is cunning, the villagers are guileless, and the outcome is never in doubt. Who it is for: viewers who want 1970s Turkish comedy and four comedians cutting across each other in the same shot. Who it is not for: anyone looking for refined social criticism. The film does not interrogate the country-bumpkin stereotype; it laughs at it and leaves it there.