The Imam (2005) User Reviews

all the advertisement

[kwlcmxxx · 1/10 · 13 October 2006]

i watched this movie because of all the amazing stories telling how wonderful it is but it turned to be a great disappointment.the scenario was just horrible.the movie begins with a modern Muslim man who hides his secret identity as he used to attended to a religious school.then all of a sudden there comes an angel-like old fellow and modern Muslim businessman began missing his old happy days.then he goes to a village. but why??there is no narration.besides this is all the action that you could see.i don't want to see running or fighting but a good movie must have a plot.A goes to B is not a plot.through this ridiculous plot,there cannot be any character development,there will be no suspense,no climax.just nothing.and this is what happened to me.the movie had some religious bases but none was used.don't spend your time and money on this.but if you want to see how nothing can be done with a good substance,go and see

Nice one but could have been much better...

[ww90125 · 8/10 · 24 January 2006]

I know this writer from his modern-Islamic thoughts and articles in a reputable newspaper and I was not surprised when I saw he was the writer of the movie. The story is pretty good and sometimes it becomes twisty to attract attention yet not always succeeds doing it. The casting is good with one exception: actress who played Haci Feyzullah's wife was awful. Her acting and her lines could not have been worse than this. Although it may seem she plays a little part in the movie, this failure brings great harm to the movie. If the scenes and dialogues with the mad-of-the-town had kept minimal it would have been far better and effectual. Up to the point of the disappearance of Tarik the movie was plainly a drama. From the point when Haci gets on the bike it turns to a comedy and that's a big drawback for the movie as if writer wrote the final part in another day in completely different mood. Also the relationship between Imam and Zehra could have been finalised better. It's left with bit of a "so-what's-up-now?" kind of situation.

Movie's attempt to debate and reconcile fundamental Islam and modern Islam mostly achieve the goal and tries not to take side on either one as Haci Feyzullah's occasional witty and moral remarks show.

Overall I enjoyed watching the movie from beginning to end. It's one of those "warm" movies that tells pretty things about life which what we often need.

The Imam - a captivating movie

[fatih-18 · 10/10 · 1 May 2006]

Overall a terrific and light-hearted movie; well-written, directed and edited, it is definitely worth seeing. I especially loved the role of the village-fool, his constant, erratic out-of-line and context remarks about the village-head certainly played well with me, I couldn't contain my laughter at one stage.

I guess the only criticism i can offer is in the way that an issue raised in the movie was left unresolved. I would have liked to see closure on this, but then again, it can be argued from an artistic perspective that some issues are best left to the imagination of the viewers. So despite my apprehension on this matter, this movie has left a lasting impression on me.

Brilliant Drama

[nilufer7 · 10/10 · 4 September 2011]

Cinematography, Drama, Editing, Photography, Acting.... all excellent: 10 on all elements. A masterpiece indeed.

Turkish Cinema has evolved to levels all Turks can be proud of.

Very sensitively and intelligently developed climax, in which the chronically abused son Tarik provokes the much needed break-down of "village rigidity", personified by his own father. The choreography never fails to carry the main gist of the synopsis: In a war between dogmatic rigidity and dialectic dialog, the latter wins by natural superiority. Is it realistic ? Why not ? Drama can go in any direction. It is very uplifting to watch goodness overcome dogma-based ignorance.

I laughed, I cried, and I applauded this cinematic beauty.

Thank you for creating this A + work.