It is not surprising to read bad reviews from international press since it's telling the not-well-known background story of a folkloric "shadow game" that we all know from childhood. Giving a difference perspective on the actual characters of hacivat and karagoz, it made me think of those times and what really might have happened to them. ALso a great look to the periods diversity and how Turks become Muslims one by one. This movie is one of the best Turkish movies I've ever watched lately, it's not referring to any cheesy jokes in reference to today's audience; it's not using it's actors' and actress' well known fame and it gives you the idea that Ezel Akay had just to shot a strong period movie with excellent costumes and art directing. Spoken language in the movie is something to be considered- it sounds foreign in the beginning but then you come to recognise the words and the old sayings that were used back then; a joint of middle-Asian Turkish, arabic, roman and hebrew. The scenes were delicately worked out, reminding of the famous ottoman art pieces.One thing that I didn't like much is the not-so-convincing visual effects, but well, don't see good cgi around here, so can't blame anyone.