Chariots of Revolution- Devrim ARABALARI
"Chariots of Revolution" is the name of a recent movie, which depicts the sad story of first attempt to manufacture the first Turkish automobile. These were 4- each passenger cars which were manufactured by 23 Turkish engineers within 130 calendar days in year 1961 It was a perfect example of reverse engineering of a reputable US automobile as well as good project management, utilization of available human resources. Engine block was cast elsewhere under the supervision of the team, and machined somewhere else. We view gratification of working class as well as local engineering skills, in a period of scarce material resources, difficult transportation means and difficult age of telecommunication. Sincerely speaking, your humble writer could not avoid to stop his tears while viewing the movie. In year 1961, new administration decided to allocate necessary funds to build the new local car. The President Mr. Cemal Gursel, former Chief-of General Staff, was well aware of prevailing transportation difficulties in the armed forces, and the uneasy situation of unnecessary dependence to foreign military vehicle manufacturers. He sincerely encouraged the local fabrication. "Chariots of Revolution" is one of the best movies Turkish cinema industry ever created, with its fascinating screenplay, well-built and portrayed characters, and an inspiring as well as a sad story. It is the story of the Turkish attempt to build a "national automobile" in the 1960s, shortly after the military coup that replaced a "pro-American authoritarian democracy" with an "independent-minded libertarian junta". Main characters are the idealist engineers of the State Railroad Directorate, who undertook the almost impossible task of designing and building of an automobile from scratch only in 130 calendar days.
Director and his well-picked cast takes us through the 130 calendar days of hard-work that produced the "Devrim" (Revolution) automobile in new Turkish political environment that followed the unavoidable military coup. Both the screenplay and direction are praiseworthy, and the Director Mr. Tolga Ornek deserves much of the credit for keeping it simple, subtle and fascinating. Unlike most other contemporary Turkish movies full of popular names and pretty faces, all the actors are "actors", each with well-deserved respectability and genuine talent. Everyone does a good job in making their characters real and fascinating enough. In the movie, engineers were brought together in Eskisehir Train and Locomotive Manufacturing Plant of State Railroad Directorate. They were given 130 calendar days to manufacture the new local automobile to show in the Republic day, 29th October 1961, to general public that local human intelligence can create a local output in real terms. The team dismantled a relatively new US automobile and with reverse engineering principles, they designed a new car to meet local conditions within that tight schedule. They were obstructed by the upper public officials on every step in project execution. Media created a high negative tone accusing them to waste public resources. In the end the team completed fabrication of first two local cars by 29th October 1961 and transported the cars by train from Eskisehir plant to Ankara to join the Republic day celebrations. However due to security reasons in train transportation, they unloaded the fuel tank, then in the rush of meeting tight schedule they forgot to refill the fuel tank in first test drive in the National Parliament. Hence media ridiculated them. Project was forgotten in the end until the new movie release to pay respect to those early pioneers of local engineering. It is your writers sincere feeling that every young engineer faces similar challenge similar discouragements in design/ manufacturing locally.We all have our story similar to "Chariots of Revolution" in our early professional lives. Your writer had similar projects in fabrication of high capacity turret lathe, high capacity cement furnace fabrication, all first of its kind completely fabricated through reverse engineering, built in local environment with available local resources. It is a pity that those early initiatives were severely curtailed by upper management due to high cost of early development period. We are not ready to spend on R&D. It is sad to recall the dialog that "Each and every success is to be penalized severely". We have young engineering and intellectual capability to design, manufacture, construct and smoothly operate high capacity local indigenous coal firing thermal power plants. These intellectual capacities are not employed for the correct action. We need to encourage these efforts, put more resources in order to realize more local design, and fabrication. Every major country puts info force the major local design capabilities to use the available local coal resources, as well as local hydro, wind, solar. We also need to educate and create our own personnel in nuclear technology to employ them in future. We must educate, train and employ our engineering staff in thermal power plant design. We need to have Thermal Power Plant design course in the 4th year of undergraduate mechanical engineering programs, in our major Technical Universities. We can only be free in energy supply security by employing more and more local engineering capability. "Chariots of Revolution" is a great movie paying respect to our early pioneers of our engineering history. These chariots created a real revolution in the intellectual minds. Film will be a real cult, a must-see production for all times in the cinema history. Your comments are always welcome
Haluk Direskeneli is an Ankara based Energy Analyst
posted by yuvakuran at 12:25 AM
2 Comments:
Determined minds on the big screen with ‘Devrim’ and ‘Mustafa’
“In Turkey every success is rewarded with punishment,” laments one of the engineers working on the Devrim car project.
This is a fairly bold and exaggerated statement, yet might there be truth involved? It was in 1961 when Gen. Cemal Gürsel’s government, which had overthrown Adnan Menderes with a coup in 1960, decided to build a fully Turkish automobile from scratch -- in just 129 days. It seemed like pure fantasy in a social and economic environment where “industrialization” was an imported concept. But for Gürsel, creating the Devrim was a chance to prove that his military government was indeed innovative, modern and “revolutionary,” which is the meaning of the word “devrim.” The project’s 23 officially appointed engineers actually built a fully running prototype, a prototype which was never green-lighted for mass production due to the preference of “the powers that be” for bringing in foreign investment and know-how for manufacturing rather than pursuing the notion of building one’s own. Shame.
Nationally well-known (if not acclaimed) documentary director Tolga Örnek’s debut fiction feature “Devrim Arabaları” (Devrim Automobiles) depicts this awe inspiring yet unfortunate story by focusing mainly on the willpower and team spirit of the engineers instead of delving into the political undercurrents of the time. Then again if Örnek and his co-writer Murat Dişli had pursued a head-on confrontational approach instead carefully beating around the bush, the project could have been canned by the “authorities,” sharing a fate with its subject. While it was produced with the best of intentions, the film is not as bold as it could have been, and the devastation caused by shutting down such a promising project is not expressed as strongly as it should be.
You might ask why this devastation should be emphasized. It is because for two hours we watch a brilliant ensemble cast working night and day to build a car from scratch and then gracefully accept the fact that their baby will never see the light of day. We don’t see any sort of substantial explosion or implosion except for a scene where 40 years later one of the engineers visits the car at a museum to shed only crocodile tears, which fail to achieve the intended dramatic effect, serving as mere melodrama.
But let’s get back to the film’s strong suit: team spirit, carefully executed in the first two-thirds of the script by the team of passionate actors. Led by Taner Birsel as Devrim’s head engineer Gündüz (the names have been altered), director Örnek has managed to bring together a team of Turkey’s finest male talent, including Selçuk Yöntem, Ali Düşenkalkar, Halit Ergenç, Serhat Tutumluer, Onur Ünsal, Altan Gördüm and, let’s not forget, Uğur Polat (though he plays the quasi-evil big-gun bureaucrat). All men of their own making, they come together in Eskişehir’s train factories for the big mission, striving to do something good for the nation. They have only four months to build the car as it has to be ready, by Gürsel’s discretion, on Oct. 29, Republic Day. The engineers have no idea how they will do it, but their determination is strong, and there is no other option. The public is angry that their tax money is being wasted, politicians are hungry for their failure and the clock is ticking. But through trial-and-error, hard work and belief, the men finish a working prototype. Watching these scenes is a joy because Örnek has managed to capture a gritty and realistic atmosphere in the workshop scenes while following the interaction of the engineers. There have huge egos, but all is forsaken for the common purpose, this sacrifice is also true of the actors’ performances. It is obvious that the lead actors immensely enjoyed making this film together and transformed their personal ambitions into the collective effort of raising awareness of Turkish audiences regarding unwritten history.
Sadly, written history only notes that the Devrim car failed to run on Oct. 29 due to a minor mistake: the engineers forgot to fill her up, hence Gürsel’s famous words: “We built a car like Westerners, but forgot to fill the tank just like Easterners.”
Of course this was just an excuse amid the various strings being pulled in the background; right from the start it was decided that Devrim cars would not be manufactured. So what was the nation left with? For the first time in a long time, the inferiority complex prevalent in Turkey was overcome by a “We did it!” attitude. If only it were about faith and hard work.
This summer I had the chance to speak with one of the few engineers of the Devrim project who are still alive, Şecaattin Sevgen. “You know, if Atatürk had been alive, he would have had the vision to mass produce Devrim,” said Sevgen
"Devrim Arabalari" is one of the best period movies Turkish cinema ever produced, with its fascinating screenplay, well-built and portrayed characters, and an inspiring story.
The movie tells the story of the Turkish attempt to build a "national automobile" in the 1960s, shortly after the military coup that replaced a "pro-American authoritarian democracy" with an "independent-minded libertarian junta" (Yes, you read it right). Main protagonists are the idealist engineers of the State Railroad Directorate, who undertook the impossible task of designing and building of an automobile from scratch only in 130 days.
Director Ornek and his well-picked cast takes us through the 4-month period of hard-work that produced the "Devrim" (Revolution) to a backdrop of Turkish political situation that followed the military coup. Both the screenplay and direction are praiseworthy, and Tolga Ornek deserves much of the credit for keeping it simple, subtle and fascinating.
Unlike most other contemporary Turkish movies full of popular names and pretty faces, all the actors are "actors", each with well-deserved respectability and genuine talent. Everyone does a good job in making their characters real and fascinating enough.
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