120

120 (2008)

During the Sarikamis Battle, the Ottoman army runs out of ammunition and appeals to the people of Van for help, who happen to have supplies. However, the First World War is on and all men are fighting at four corners of the empire and therefore can not respond to to the appeal. The young children of Van want to do something...

Date of release
2008-02-15
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (57)
Runtime
1h 54m
Genres
History, Drama, War
Director
Özhan Eren, Murat Saraçoğlu

Casting

Interesting facts

120 is a 2008 Turkish war film directed by Murat Saraçoğlu and Özhan Eren based on the true story of 120 children who died in 1915 carrying ammunition for the Battle of Sarikamish against the Russians during World War I. The film went on general release across Turkey on February 15, 2008 and is one of the highest grossing Turkish films of 2008.

Production

Writer, producer and co-director Özhan Eren, an expert on the Caucasus Campaign in World War I, who came across the story of the 120 boys while doing the research for his bestselling The Road to Sarıkamış (Turkish: Sarıkamış'a Giden Yol), spent three years preparing for the film.

I adore period movies... this is what stimulates me about the movie... The authentic historical scenario of the movie is one of the features that make the film exceptional. We show what our ancestors sacrificed -- and under which conditions -- for the country. There may not be many battle scenes, but there certainly is emotion around every corner. It is about the heroism of 120 children.

It is a theme I have stressed for years. We went through unique battles and pretty hard days as a nation. However, we are somehow unsuccessful in making movies out of them. We are unable to tell our history to the coming generations... We experienced calamities. In each home we have a martyr. These [stories] have to be told, and '120' is a crucial project in this respect. It will be tiring for me, but it is worth it.

The film, which received a record amount of support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was shot over two years in harsh conditions on location in Safranbolu, Van and Istanbul, Turkey. When heavy snow, expected in Van for the winter settings of the film, failed to arrive, 20 trucks, two loaders and 30 staff members had to be hired to bring 300 tons of snow from Çaldıran to Van for several scenes.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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