After the film, "what did I watch?" I asked myself. The film seems to have exaggerated. Erdal Besikcioglu played well, but the fiction is a bit overstated.
6.5Plot summary
Cicero, pseudonym of Ilyas Bazna, born 1904, Pristina, one of the most famous spies of World War II, who worked for Nazi Germany in 1943-44 while he was employed as valet to Sir Hughe Montgomery Knatchbull-Hugessen, British ambassador to neutral Turkey from 1939. He photographed secret documents from the embassy safe and turned the films over to the former German chancellor Franz von Papen, at that time German ambassador in Ankara. For this service the Hitler government paid Cicero large sums in British money, most of it counterfeited in Germany. Despite the evident authenticity of the films, the Nazi officials in Berlin mistrusted Cicero and are said to have disregarded his information. Who was Cicero? Was he a German spy or a spy working for the Turkish Intelligence (MIT)? Was he after money or was he just a man seeking vengeance for the death of his parents?
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Erdal Besikcioglu played well, but the fiction is a bit overstated.
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I EXPECTED MORE
My expectations were higher about this movie. This is third biopic of producer Mustafa Uslu but Cicero is not as good as Ayla and Muslum. It is not so biographic because there are a lot of differences with reality. I know it is normal sometimes but Ilyas Bazna's story is so dubious in real life and we can clearly see decisions that filmmakers made for making this movie more dramatic. Studio is trying to make their next movie's PR in this movie, that sounds so wrong to me. If I talk about production of Cicero, visuality is great. But sound editing and mixing sucks. Dubbing is so bad and not realistic. I can't figure out how an English person can speak Turkish language better than an educated Turk? And why these people are speaking two different languages in the same dialogue? On the other hand story is okay but it has voids in some parts. Opening sequence is awesome. Final sequence looks disorganised and transfected but Ataturk twist has made me smile. For acting, Burcu Biricik and Erdal Besikcioglu are awesome I liked them as always but supporting actors are not well except Ertan Saban and Gerry George. Also Hitler's and Ataturk's actors doesn't look so realistic. Finally, best thing this movie has is it feels like a Hollywood movie and I would like to see more movies like that in better ways. Worst thing this movie has is it is an agent story but it hasn't enough action. It could be more paced.
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Pity for expectations
A very brilliant story has been wasted by the director. The story of spy Elyasa Banza is an excellent opportunity to create a realmaster. However, in Çiçero, acting performance are under-level, the scenario has lots of faults and thus, fails to create needed tension, everyone speaks Turkish but foreigner characaters very randomly starts to speaks their mother language by inadequate pronunciation etc... Therefore, Çiçero not only wasted a beneficial material but also failed to manage the level of an overall popular movie.