Ertugrul 1890: Two nations, two tales, one movie

ISTANBUL

The movie ‘Ertugrul 1890’ – a dramatic tale of Turkish-Japanese historic friendship–  will open in movie theaters next month.

The movie's director, Mitsutoshi Tanaka, speaking to Anadolu Agency on Monday, said that the idea of shooting the film emerged from a letter originally written by Ottoman diplomats he received from a friend 10 years ago.

Detailing an Ottoman shipping disaster that happened in Japan in 1890, Tanaka confirmed that he had been working on the project for years.

The movie tells of the rescue of 69 sailors from the ‘Ertugrul’, a frigate which sank off an island close to the Japanese town of Kushimoto while returning from a goodwill voyage to Japan.

More than 580 sailors lost their lives when the frigate was caught in a typhoon off the coast of Wakayama Prefecture, and subsequently drifted into a reef and sank.

Tanaka’s film then tells the story of how, 95 years after the frigate disaster, a Turkish government rescued 215 Japanese citizens from the Iranian capital Tehran on the orders of President Turgut Ozal during the Iran-Iraq war.

Tanaka said he paid numerous visits to Turkey during the project stage as well as exchanging views with the local people when he was in Kushimoto over the 120th anniversary of the frigate disaster.

"The villagers gathered for commemoration; on the stage, two out of a group of 750 people began crying.

“They were telling how Turks rescued them from Tehran, saying: 'If you had not rescued Turkish soldiers 120 years ago, we would have died there' [Tehran]."

"That moment was like a movie and Kushimoto residents wanted the shooting of movie the most," said the Japanese director.

Tanaka said Japanese women prepared Turkish food for Turkish actors during filming. Kushimoto residents voluntarily worked on the film set and about 200 villagers worked in dramatizing the rescue of the 69 sailors.

"In seeing off stage of the sailors, the residents were waving hand on one hand and crying in the other hand, despite these moments were not included in the scenario, as if they were living that moments again," said Tanaka.

The location for rescue of the Japanese citizens took place in Istanbul; 650 Turks were involved in the filming.

Tanaka continued: "Following filming, I realized a woman was crying and she said: 'When I was in primary school, we heard the story of the Ertugrul frigate, that's why I am crying'.”

“It was nothing else than the affection of these two societies. Turks and Japanese were crying, unaware of each other," Tanaka said.

Stressing that the movie would reinforce friendship between the two nations, Tanaka added: "I wanted future generations to know this friendship; I did my best for a movie Turks and Japanese would be moved by."

Filming began in Dec. 2014. Production was supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Ertugrul Film Partners in Japan.