Veda

Great epic drama of Mustafa Kemal Atatürka, who is still regarded to this day as one of the most important political leaders of the 20th century - who was not only a great revolutionary statesman, but also the founding father of the Republic of Turkey. This film of Kemal Atatürka also presents beautifully the profound political vision of a statesman, who sees the inevitability of change that Turkey had to undergo during the early twentieth century, making Kemal Atatürka the revolutionary statesman Turkey needed during that time, so that Turkey could be modernized and improved - and thereby making the country part of the International Community. The film also gives a very profound and moving portrayal of Kemal Atatürk's friends and family - in particular his mother and his beloved friends, Fikriye Hanim and Salih Bozok. Kemal Atatürka and his beloved ones are all portrayed as great human beings, who not only show deep love and courage; but also a capacity for fear, vulnerability and deep emotions.

If this movie is outstanding, it is certainly by it's ability to dodge any depth. No significant analysis of any character, no solid study of the historical context or stake, just a superficial picture of the events through a soap-like art. The author's purpose to grossly suggest along the movie his narration is a jewel of subtle understatement, as a reflection of the oriental sensibility, doesn't produce any effect but a real tediousness. Confronting with such imposture, one could naturally consider this a suggested work to embellish a vanishing symbol, facing times of trouble. It's few to say this subject deserves a better handling: the birth of a modern nation, the fate of millions of people involved, yesterday and today, the difficult questions of liberty and democracy are the real, complete and achieved understatement here.

Incoherent The film "Veda"directed by Zülfü Livaneli, made in 2010 is a film based on the memoirs of "Salih bozok". A weak drama whose biggest problem is indecisiveness in dealing with the subject. The film is not coherent in this sense. And this has caused even the editing of the film to be undecided. Although the film has been successful in sales, it is structurally weak. In general, the film remains a linear narrative from a diary in praise of Atatürk. From Turkish cinema, much stronger and prominent films have been released at the world level. Movies that will always remain in the history of world cinema.

Turkish renaissance man Zülfü Livaneli ("Shahmaran" & "Iron Earth, Copper Sky") draws upon the reminiscences of Atatürk's lifelong friend and loyal ADC Salih Bozok for this sumptuous but shallow hagiographic retelling of the life of the Grey Wolf intended to restore Turkish pride in the wake of the more controversial biopic "Mustafa" by Can Dündar.

With Atatürk on his deathbed a despondent Salih Bozok (Serhat Kılıç) begins to relate the life of the Grey Wolf from their childhood together on the streets of their beloved Thessalonica and on through their military career to the foundation of the republic and the President's tumultuous relationships with Fikriye (Özge Özpirinçci) and Latife (Ezgi Mola).

The talented and prodigious Sinan Tuzcu ("Orada" and "Nefes") takes up the bulk of the screen time as Atatürk between the ages of 25 to 45 but is given very little to work with as the character is two-dimensionally rendered with no apparent emotional depth even when the actor is interacting with his own wife Dolunay Soysert as the Grey Wolf's mother.

Serhat Kılıç heads up the supporting cast as the narrator Salih Bozok but seems curiously absent for all the major events depicted while Özge Özpirinçci and Ezgi Mola are required to carry what little emotional content the film has as the competing love interests and Burhan Güven, Bartunç Akbaba and Kaan Olcay round things out as various incarnations of Atatürk.

The director deliberately sets out to avoid any perceived insult to the Turkish image of their founder and in this respect at least succeeds like any other uninspired hagiography with a loosely strung together episodic collection of supposedly inspiring well-worn incidents from the Grey Wolf's life which ultimately serve to give no true insight into the man himself.

"Unfortunately, words are not enough "

Not being a historian myself by any measure, I doubt anyone would argue that Ataturk is one of the greats who does deserve his story told in a great movie. This attempt unfortunately doesn't cut it.

The storyline is quite boring, scenes are artificial in a sense that they don't facilitate the story in necessary scale. Quite many scenes seemed redundant altogether. Acting is mostly poor - overacting is often the case. I'd expect larger focus on his state matters than personal life, which seemed to be theme of this movie. I truly hope that someone takes another shot at telling Ataturk's story. A team of better writers, actors and director is essential to make it! 5/10. That high only because the movie is of some historical importance.