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There Is Democracy in the Country (Memlekette Demokrasi Var)

There Is Democracy in the Country (Memlekette Demokrasi Var) (translated)

Movie · 2010 · 7 people

Süleyman Nebioğlu wrote and directed Memlekette Demokrasi Var, a Turkish film released in cinemas on 3 December 2010. It mixes political comedy, adventure and drama, and it also carries the title Yüz Bin Kibrit (A Hundred Thousand Matches). Mustafa Uslu produced, Dijital Sanatlar made the film and UIP distributed it. The cinematographer is Mustafa Kuşçu, and Müjdat Gezen takes the lead.

The story follows Baradan, a man everyone calls mad, who sets out to rescue Adnan Menderes, the former prime minister held on Yassıada after the 27 May coup and only days from execution. Baradan's scheme is sheer lunacy: he will gather a hundred thousand matchsticks and build a bomb from them, get it to Yassıada through a passage dug under the sea, and set it off. In the chaos, Menderes will escape through the same tunnel. Nobody takes the plan seriously, and it offers a humorous window onto a painful stretch of recent history.

Müjdat Gezen plays Baradan, Şafak Sezer a gendarme, Tamer Karadağlı the district governor and Gülçin Santırcıoğlu Huriye. İlker Ayrık, Nejat Birecik, Sümer Tilmaç and Emrah Kolukısa are also in the cast, and both Emrah Kolukısa and Yurdaer Tosun are credited in connection with the role of Adnan Menderes.

DirectorSüleyman Nebioğlu
Production companyDijital Sanatlar
There Is Democracy in the Country (Memlekette Demokrasi Var) There Is Democracy in the Country (Memlekette Demokrasi Var)

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Cast

Müjdat Gezen Müjdat Gezen Actor · 83 years old Baradan Şafak Sezer Şafak Sezer Actor · 56 years old Jandarma Tamer Karadağlı Tamer Karadağlı Actor · 59 years old Jandarma Gülçin Santırcıoğlu Gülçin Santırcıoğlu Actor · 49 years old Huriye İlker Ayrık İlker Ayrık Actor · 47 years old Uzatmalı Sıtkı Sümer Tilmaç Sümer Tilmaç Actor · died at 66 Anten Necip Memili Necip Memili Actor · 46 years old Ali Kemal Sözer

Also in the cast: Nejat Birecik, Emrah Kolukısa

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The 27 May coup and the days when Adnan Menderes was held on Yassıada remain an emotionally heavy period in Turkey's recent history. Süleyman Nebioğlu approaches it not through documentary or solemn drama but through the eyes of Baradan, a man everyone calls mad. The plan to build a bomb from a hundred thousand matches is openly absurd, and through that absurdity the film tries to convey the helplessness of those days. It is an interesting but risky choice: treating a matter overshadowed by an execution as comedy may feel too light to some viewers. It is fairer to see the film not as a reading of history but as a humorous reflection of a state of mind.

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

Seeing Müjdat Gezen in the lead is a comfort for anyone who misses the warmth of the old comedy masters. Baradan, whom everyone calls mad, recalls Yeşilçam's underestimated heroes who act from the heart, and the innocence of his matchstick-bomb plan fits that line. Familiar faces such as Şafak Sezer and Tamer Karadağlı round out the cast. Yet the balance between the weight of the subject and the lightness of the comedy doesn't always seem to hold; just as you laugh, you feel a lump in your throat. One would have wished these two feelings were woven together more gracefully.

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

The story unfolds in the shadow of an execution, but it's told with humour. Kids may laugh at the matchstick-bomb plan, but to understand the coup and the execution in the background they'll need the grown-ups to explain. Ideas like bombs and coups can confuse little ones. So it's better suited to older children and teenagers. For the grown-ups, it can be a reason to talk about those years at home.

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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