Review of Cinema in Turkey: A New Critical History

The best of all the recent volumes which have appeared on Turkish cinema and its antecedents. Arslan is good both on the origins of cinema in Yesilcam - or Green Pine; a movement in Turkish cinema which was much like the old Hollywood Poverty Row studios in the 1930s and 1940s. Arslan also understands how the past influences the present, both in thematic and structural terms: Turkish cinema is un-like Hollywood cinema for a series of specific reasons. He adopts a refreshingly pluralistic approach to his material, acknowledging the significance of both western and nonwestern theoretical models. Highly recommended.