Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, was born in Salonika, which at the time was part of the old Ottoman Empire. After a military education that finished in İstanbul, he joined the army and had a checkered career during which time he was both favored and disregarded by the Ottoman rulers, who were often suspicious of his ideas about freedom and democracy.
Mustafa Kemal's reputation soared after he defeated the Allies at Gallipoli in 1916. Thereafter he gradually rose up the military ranks, especially after a series of stunning victories against the invading forces in the east and west of the country. Although forced out of the army, he commanded high levels of support, enabling him to establish a republican Parliament in Ankara.
In 1922-3 he attained sufficient power to be able to negotiate with the Allies, and with a combination of astute negotiation and political skill managed to abolish the old sultanate and replace it with a republic, with himself as its first leader. There followed a raft of reforms that transformed Turkey into a secular state with its eyes firmly fixed towards the west. They included separating religion and politics, reforming the language, banning the fez, and allowing equal rights for women.
A workaholic by nature, Atatürk burned himself out at the age of only fifty-seven; but he had achieved quite stunning success in an amazingly short time.
Designed primarily for non-Turkish viewers, Tolda Örnek's documentary has a portentous narration by Sir Donald Sinden, focusing mostly on Atatürk's qualities as a leader as well as an inspiration to others. His shortcomings (drinking and smoking too much, as well as an inability to relate to his wife) are not overlooked, but Örnek suggests that they were chiefly due to his obsession with work. He had a lot to do in a very short time and achieved it.
Many of the authorities interviewed for this documentary, including Sabiha Gökçen and Ülkü Çukurlouğlu, his daughters, and historians Stanford Shaw and Andrew Mango, are no longer with us. Hence the documentary has acquired historical value in the eighteen years since its original release, preserving on film the reminiscences of those close to Atatürk as well as some of the best-known writers of the period.
Extensively illustrated with archive film as well as location shots of the areas where many seminal events took place during Atatürk's life, this is a highly entertaining and informative film written from an unashamedly patriotic perspective.
