|
The problem with these kinds of movies is that people think that this is reality. They have used a real story, and used this as a base for a movie script. It remains a movie however, with big dramatizations, and even things that never happened. But do the people in the cinema realize this, or will they form an opinion based on a movie, made to create money for the studio-owners?
Right! People watched the "Midnight Express" where all Turks are portrayed as bad and you know what, probably most of the viewers belived it.
During the 1999 Cannes Film Festival, Alinur Velidedeoğlu, a Turkish advertiser, met Billy Hayes by chance and interviewed him on the film Midnight Express. Hayes expressed his disappointment with parts of the film adaptation, especially its portrayal of all Turks as bad, and his regret that Turkey´s image was negatively affected by the film. Hayes also displayed affection for Turkey and Istanbul. Although the Interpol warrant for him had by then been set aside, he explained that while he wanted to return, he hesitated to do so out of concern that many Turks might blame him for the negative publicity the movie had generated.
Hayes did finally return to Turkey on June 14, 2007 to attend the 2nd Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security, organized by the Turkish National Police (TNP) and the Turkish Institute for Police Studies (TIPS), to amend the negative implications of his book. He held a press conference on June 15 and made an apology to the Turkish people.
|
