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The Masked Gang: Iraq (Maskeli Beşler: Irak)

The Masked Gang: Iraq (Maskeli Beşler: Irak)

Movie · 2007 · 8 people

The Turkish comedy Maskeli Beşler: Irak (The Masked Gang: Iraq) opened in January 2007. Murat Aslan directed it and wrote the screenplay, and Arzu Film produced it. It is the sequel to Maskeli Beşler: İntikam Peşinde (2005) and the second film of a series that continued with Maskeli Beşler: Kıbrıs in 2008. It was the third highest-grossing Turkish film of 2007, and its 108 minutes also reached German cinemas on 25 January 2007.

The heroes are the Masked Gang, who, as if their blunders at home were not enough, decide to take their fame abroad. To show their talents on the international stage, they plan to seize an oil installation in northern Iraq and divert the oil to Turkey. What starts as an innocent act in their own eyes soon becomes a blunder-filled crisis across a Turkey-America-Iraq triangle. Şafak Sezer, Peker Açıkalın and Cengiz Küçükayvaz lead the cast, with Melih Ekener, Erdal Tosun and Cezmi Baskın also appearing.

DirectorMurat Aslan
Production companyArzu Film

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Cast

Cengiz Küçükayvaz Cengiz Küçükayvaz Actor · 58 years old Kamil Erdal Tosun Erdal Tosun Actor · died at 53 Peşto Melih Ekener Melih Ekener Actor · 61 years old Peker Açıkalın Peker Açıkalın Film actor · 63 years old Bahattin Şafak Sezer Şafak Sezer Actor · 56 years old Tezcan Durul Bazan Durul Bazan Actor · 54 years old Davi Cezmi Baskın Cezmi Baskın Actor · 77 years old Ceyhun Yılmaz Ceyhun Yılmaz Actor · 50 years old

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Through different eyes

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

Maskeli Beşler: Irak is a broad comedy with a big line-up of comic performers. The blunders of Şafak Sezer, Peker Açıkalın and Cengiz Küçükayvaz may well get laughs from teenagers at home. Still, the humour is crude and loud much of the time, and although the plot is a scheme to seize an oil installation, it is all built on clumsiness. It suits teens and fans of this kind of slapstick more than young children. Older relatives may find it tiring.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Written and directed by Murat Aslan, this sequel rarely does more than enlarge the first film's formula. The premise of an oil installation in northern Iraq offers ground for a sharp satire of the Turkey-America-Iraq triangle, but the script strings sketches together instead of building on that potential. The roughly 108 minutes fill up with loosely connected gags, and the editing struggles to find a rhythm. The crowd of comedians looks like an asset, yet each one does his own routine and no shared ensemble texture forms. Being the third highest-grossing Turkish film of 2007 shows how loyal audiences were to this gang; as cinema, it is a satire that missed its chance.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Yeşilçam's comedies always had a heart, a warmth of friendship beneath the clumsiness; in Maskeli Beşler: Irak I looked for that warmth and struggled to find it. The energy Şafak Sezer and his companions bring is undeniable, and when they share the screen there is a festive air. Yet the humour is mostly loud and crude, and we are given no chance to grow attached to the characters. For an eye used to the simple, gently amusing comedies of the old masters, this remains an entertainment that raises a smile for a moment and is quickly forgotten.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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