This movie is one of the most spectacular jobs the Turkish movie sector has ever come up with. The movie is semi-musical. However, what you can call funny in this movie is mostly achieved by using different accents of Turkish and maybe the most common cultural patterns, including beautiful classical Turkish music with lyrics changed according to the script. So obviously this masterpiece doesn't have a literal "universal" value as you would call it. But at the same time, we all know that anything that has a universal value also has a cultural background. Probably in an imaginary time where everybody wants to know other cultures to find the common values between people, this movie would be a good way to do that.
I know that I said almost nothing about the movie itself, 'cause I only talked about how this movie makes me feel. Alright, the script is written really well (especially the musical part, with adapted lyrics). The acting is flawless. Şener Şen is one of the greatest actors in Turkish cinema. And this is one of his best performances. As Ziver, he makes you feel exactly the way the director would want you to feel. Şener Şen has always been successful at using the funniest Turkish accents (As we have seen him do in many Turkish comedies in the 70's: Kibar Feyzo, Davaro, Züğürt Ağa etc.) Şevket Altuğ is amazing as Hurşit. İlyas Salman as Cumali, the honorable street guard, played "the master of fools" (the cucumber) unbelievably well. The names for the characters were chosen from the appropriate era of Turkish culture that the movie depicts. An absolutely brilliant scenario, as it offers you an enjoyable trip to the last years of the Ottoman Empire. Relationships between men and women are shown so realistically, and strong religious figures are melted beautifully in the scenario to show what society was like at that time. All told in the funniest way possible. But as I said before, it only means something if you are familiar enough with Turkish culture and Turkish history. I believe that this movie will still be enjoyable for the future generations.
