The current atmosphere in Turkey is marked by conflict, tension and political polarization that spills over into culture. Yet a recent film, “Ayla: The Daughter of War,” takes on one of the rare events in Turkish history that is not controversial: the way Turkish soldiers helped South Koreans in the Korean War, during which Turkey was part of the UN coalition.
“Ayla” is the latest Turkish attempt to produce internationally competitive movies with big budgets and global appeal. Earlier this year, “The Ottoman Lieutenant,” a Turco-American production, flopped at the box office. Turks hope that “Ayla,” a tale of compassion and self-sacrifice between a Turkish soldier and a Korean child, will be more successful. Earlier this month, a 17-member committee of representatives from the Ministry of Culture and cinema organizations selected the film as Turkey’s nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
“Ayla,” based on a real story that took place during the Korean War, depicts the bond between a Turkish soldier in Korea, 25-year-old Suleyman Dilbirligi, and Kim Eunja, a Korean orphan. It is a tale of sacrifice, love and solidarity against a backdrop of war and death. The movie features strong actors from Turkey and abroad. Ismail Hacioglu plays the young Suleyman, while Cetin Tekindor plays the Turkish soldier at an older age. The young Ayla is played by Kim Seol.
The story begins with Suleyman, a noncommissioned officer who finds a little girl at a destroyed village in South Korea. Her parents are dead. He and the two soldiers with him take the girl to the Turkish base and look after her for months. As they are unable to pronounce her name, they name her Ayla, a Turkish name that means “halo of the moon,” because of her round face. Ayla and Suleyman establish a familial relationship and when the young soldier has to return to Turkey after 15 months, he wants desperately to take Ayla with him and adopt her. But Korean law forces him to leave the girl behind and Ayla is sent to a boarding school built by the Turkish soldiers called Ankara Orphanage.
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