Man Who Saves the World, The
Entry updated 2 December 2024. Tagged: Film.
Turkish film (1982; original title Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam; vt Turkish Star Wars). Anıt Film. Directed by Çetin İnanç. Written by Cüneyt Arkın. Cast includes Aytekin Akkaya, Cüneyt Arkın, Hüseyin Peyda, Hikmet Taşdemir and Füsun Uçar. Colour. 91 minutes.
Set thousands of years in the future, the film opens with a narrator summarizing history up to that point, including how nuclear Weapons had chipped off parts of the Earth (see Disaster), with some inhabitants surviving on the fragments. In the present, Earth is under attack and humanity has constructed a shield coated with human brain cells which successfully protects the planet from the invader's weapons; however, should the unknown enemy obtain a human brain they would be capable of building one that would penetrate the shield.
Whilst defending the Earth from a fresh assault, Murat (Arkın) and Ali (Akkaya), two Turkish Spaceship pilots, are drawn by a strange force and awake on an unknown planet. They notice historical ruins (resembling Earth's own) and infer the civilization was wiped out by nuclear War. Ali hopefully suggests the planet might be inhabited only by women, so Murat encourages him to attract them with his infallible wolf whistle, which however brings an attack by skeletons on horseback: "You must have whistled the wrong tune." Though outnumbered, they defeat the skeletons only to be captured by armoured men with Ray Guns who plan to force them into gladiatorial combat for the amusement of their leader, the Wizard (Taşdemir). Cut as they fight to free themselves, the Wizard recognizes human blood. The pair are sheltered by the locals, who explain the planet had once been part of Earth – they are human too, descendants of the "Thirteenth Tribe" (why their brains are unsuitable for the Wizard is unexplained). When they say the Wizard intends to conquer Earth, Murat and Ali realize he must be responsible for the attacks and needs to be defeated. This wizard, who brought them to the planet, is an ancient sovereign who discovered the secret of Immortality, which in part involves drinking blood; he has Psi Powers including Teleportation, a Robot, and the ability to transform people who disappoint him into spiders.
After attacks by assorted Monsters and a prolonged training montage in which our heroes hit rocks with their bare hands, the Wizard captures and subjects the pair to various ordeals intended to break them, but which fail due to their strength and indomitable spirit. Murat escapes and is taken to an Islamic (see Religion) shrine by the local wise man (Peyda) who explains the Thirteenth Tribe once forged a bronze sword and imbued a brain with the goodness and wisdom of mankind, which he has hid in an old Christian cathedral: his daughter (Uçar) takes Murat there to claim them. He does so, despite being attacked by a monster disguised as Ali. Ali himself is not proving much use to the Wizard – his bond with Murat means his brain cannot be used for the planned weapon. Murat rescues Ali – the sword making swift work of the many monsters that get in his way – but Ali jealously wants to be the hero and takes the sword and brain, only to be fooled by the Wizard disguised as the wise man: touching the two objects, he gains their power, which will enable him to destroy the Earth. Ali dies attempting to atone, but Murat melds the brain and sword into a pair of golden gloves and heads for a showdown with the Wizard, which he wins with comparative ease. He returns home in his spaceship.
The Man Who Saves the World has become known as Turkish Star Wars owing to its use of scenes lifted from Star Wars (1977). For example, the attack on the Death Star is used to represent a fight between the Wizard's spaceships and the Earth forces' defence, intercut with Murat and Ali's reactions as participants ("Nice shooting."). At the time Turkish films tended to be made with small budgets and – so the story goes – Inanc's spaceship sets were destroyed by a storm; with no more money available, footage from Star Wars was used instead. Scenes from other films also appear, whilst the score was plundered from numerous soundtrack albums. When initial editing was finished the film was 150 minutes long, so a further hour was cut, doubtless contributing to the incoherence of the story. Children were the target audience and likely felt the regular martial-arts battles made up for any flaws or silliness in the plotting. This film is similar in tone to Japanese Tokusatsu television series, but with less inventive monsters and – no matter how much fast cutting and giant leaps are used to hide the fact – undistinguished fight choreography. Besides the opening narration, there is a later Infodump by the wise man which covers religion, rebellion and ancient Technologies; both provide more back-story than is really needed, at least for this cut of the film. The Man Who Saves The World is a bad film, but fun. [SP]
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