The $10-million movie, the most expensive ever produced in Turkey, is based on the July 2003 arrest by U.S. troops of 11 Turkish soldiers serving among coalition forces, who were held for two days with bags covering their heads. The incident threw a monkey wrench into Turkish-American relations. The U.S. has yet to offer an explanation for the incident.

Some other tidbits – a German state government is trying to suppress the movie:

The premier of the German state of Bavaria has called upon German cinema owners to stop showing the Turkish movie Valley of the Wolves — Iraq, which depicts U.S. soldiers in Iraq as murderous villains. In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag, Edmund Stoiber described the film as a “racist and anti-Western hate film” and charged that it was intended to sow “hate and mistrust against the West.”

And the US government has warned servicemen against attending showings (although this makes sense from a prudential standpoint):

According to today’s (Monday) Washington Post, the U.S. Army has warned service members abroad to stay away from theaters showing the movie and “avoid getting into discussions about [it] with people you don’t know.”

Americans should take it on the chin and reflect on why they are perceived as uniquely arrogant and mendacious across the entire world. It would do Americans good to reflect on this.

What is banner 11 about?

It looks majestic. Very David Lean like.