Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves the World) is a Turkish-made film commonly known as Turkish Star Wars because of its notorious bootlegging of Star Wars clips worked into the film.

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam

Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam was released in 1982 in the midst of massive political upheaval. As a result, American-made films weren't easily acquired and were often remade with a Turkish cast and setting. The four most notable films to be so bootlegged are Star Wars, The Wizard of Oz, The Exorcist and E.T., all of which have Turkish variations.

Cast

Directed by Cetin Inanc and written by Cuneyt Arkin, a well-known Turkish actor whose works span the last 5 decades, the movie also starred Arkın in the leading role. Other actors include Aytekin Akkaya who later starred in the Italian movie Sopravvissuti della città morta, as well as Hüseyin Peyda and Fusun Ucar both of whom remained in Turkey.

Plot

The film follows the adventures of two comrades, Murat (Arkın) and Ali (Akkaya), whose ships crash on a desert planet (curiously identical to Cappadocia in Turkey) following a less-than-epic space battle that randomly inserts footage from Star Wars as well as newsreel clips of both Soviet and American space rockets. They are soon assaulted by desert skeletons on horseback who are easily defeated with the pair's knowledge of martial arts. However the film's main villain soon shows up and captures the heroes, bringing them to fight in his gladiatorial arena. The villain mentions that he was actually from earth and is in reality a 1,000 year old wizard. He tries to defeat the Earth, but his attacks are always repelled by a shield of concentrated human brain molecules. The only way for him to bypass this impenetrable defense is to use a human brain to bring it down. The protagonists escape their captors and flee to a cave full of people who are also hiding from the tyrannical rule of the villain. While there, Murat develops a romantic connection with the only woman there (Uçar), who is tasked with looking after the children. Zombie minions of the dark lord soon attack the cave, which the now-three main characters all escape from, after seeing several of the children killed and made zombies themselves. Resurfacing at a local bar lifted directly from Star Wars (the Mos Eisley Cantina), the two men quickly manage to find themselves in a bar brawl that attracts the attention of the main villain who suddenly appears and captures Ali, leaving Murat and the woman behind.

A mentor (Peyda) then informs Murat about a sword made by "the 13th clan" by melting a mountain, thousands of "space years" ago, in a temple dedicated to Haci Bektas Veli that broke free from the Earth when it exploded and eventually landed on this planet.

Shortly afterwards, Murat finds the large sword shaped like a lightning bolt in a cave defended by 2 ninjas who he quickly dispatches. Now renewed by the power of the sword, he sets out to free his friend from the underground cavern where the dark lord is holding him. Unfortunately Ali is killed soon there-after. Grief-stricken, Murat decides the next logical step is to boil his golden sword and gold-like human brain in a large pot, and forge them into a pair of gauntlets and boots. Now girded with magically-endowed gloves and super-jumping boots, he sets off to find the dark lord and avenge his friend's death. After fighting the many minions the dark lord has summoned to his defence, he comes face-to-face with his nemesis and karate-chops him in half. The film ends with a Star Wars-like ending speech where the watcher learns that human brain is the strongest weapon in the whole universe.

Soundtrack

The musical soundtrack is entirely lifted from Western film hits of the time, primarily using Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are also scenes incorporating the music of Moonraker, Ben Hur, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Planet of the Apes, Silent Running and Disney's The Black Hole.

Foleyvision

Foleyvision, an Austin, Texas based comedy troupe who showed movies with the original soundtrack off while providing dialogue, music, and sound-effects live in the theatre, used Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam as one of their performances in 2004, providing what troupe leader Buzz Moran said was "the first English translation of this film ever in the world."During the introduction to the show, Moran stated that the translator had told them that "It doesn't make any more sense in Turkish."