I know the subject line is very much pretentious. I must tell this two movies (The Godfather and Kabadayi) have two completely different stories (yet they both are about tough guys). I've chosen this subject because Kabadayi holds the same place in Turkish cinema what The Gotfather holds in Hollywood.
Before I tell you a little summary of the plot, let me explain what Kabadayi means (şarkının burası turistler için). I think English word for Kabadayi is "rowdy" but I'm not absolutely sure of that since it holds some cultural meaning in Turkey too. Nowadays, we all know the mafia is everywhere. They do all the dirty business, drug dealing, blackmailing and so on. But in the old times, they were guys who were called Kabadayi. Those guys were big brothers of the neighborhood, they "solve" the problems among people in their own way but they were honest and kind. They also support the poor and the weak.
You might call them sort of Robin Hood (that is actually mentioned in the movie ironically).
Ali Osman (played by Sener Sen) is a Kabadayi. He's old now, taking care of his legal business but still helping the poor and sometimes getting together with old mates who were kabadayis once. They chat and have jokes about good old days. Ali Osman recently suffering from short-time memory losses. He knows his and his friend's time has passed.
One day he learns that his love of life Afet(played by Selma Kutlu) is in deathbed. He hasn't seen her for years but never forgot her. He goes to visit her to learn surprise of a lifetime. She tells Ali Osman that he's got a son from her that he never know.
She never told him that before, because when they were in love Ali Osman was actually married to another woman (whom later died and Ali Osman also lost his other son from his wife - Ali Osman considers all these loses as a punishment of god because he did so many bad things in the past). Afet didn't want to disturb Ali Osman's family life. When she learned her pregnancy, AliOsman was in jail, she didn't visit him and they never seen each other afterwords. Afet raised her son and told him that his father is Surmeli(played by RasimOztekin) who is actually a gay man who was Afet's helper when she was a famous singer.
Ali Osman goes and finds his son Murat(played by Ismail Hacioglu) and tells him that "I'm your father your mom just told me that and now she is dying". But Murat is denying his mother and doesn't want to see her let alone his "new" father. He's working at a bar/night club as a DJ together with his amazingly beautiful girlfriend Karaca(played by Asli Tandogan).
Here we're introduced to villain: Devran (played by Kenan Imirzalioglu). This guy is a full featured modern mafia. Drug dealing, blackmailing and taking tribute from nightclubs is his business. We later learn that he's actually serving to much bigger "boss" while playing double-sided with secret service. The nightclub that Murat works is one of places which Devran wants to take. But real trouble is that Devran loves Murat's girlfriend Karaca like crazy. This love is the key of the movie actually.
Devran tries everything to get Karaca, will Murat cope with that, is there a last clash waiting for Ali Osman before he leaves the "underground world" ?
Well I'm not going to tell you the whole story line by line here, I just wanted to give you sense of it. This is actually ground building parts of the movie. Later on it develops quickly and give you as much action as drama.
I like the movie mainly because it never makes you think "hey this is stupid, why he/she did that ?? pointless....".
It's plot is very well written. Nothing more nothing less. Characters are quite believable. Cast and acting is awesome. The movie never tries to hide anything and reveal it later to shock you or something like that, you just watch it and enjoy it. At first it looks like a cliché story but it is very well suited to Turkey's life style and doesn't look awkward. There is even very nice sense of humor placed smartly in the movie piece by piece. Sener Sen (Ali Osman) giving another great performance supporting cast deserves real appreciation too.
One could argue that there are very few battle/skirmish scenes as a mafia story (I should have said Kabadayi movie - you'll know why when you watch it). And those scenes are not "emphasized". I mean guns, shooting scenes and blasts could have been much better. The quality of these scenes actually reminded me Eskiya, another great movie also featured Sener Sen and Yavuz Turgul. I think director and story writer didn't want the action scenes to steal the movie. That's why those scenes are not very strong except the last slamming scene (pls see: Osmanli Tokadi).
Camera man's work is above the average but at some scenes we see a little bit of raw lighting. Editing is OK, long runtime is not a problem here.
Story telling is flawless. At no point I lost the story line or felt bored. If you push it hard you can find some small holes like how on earth you cut someone's throat and even one drop of blood doesn't splash on you suit?
The movie delves into mafia, torture at jails, politicians's corruption even the secret service's work. At the end of the movie we learn some interesting stuff like what has driven Devran so out of his mind and he is just the outcome of what have done to him.
If you have chance to see it, don't miss.
Thank you everyone who made or contributed to this movie.
Before I tell you a little summary of the plot, let me explain what Kabadayi means (şarkının burası turistler için). I think English word for Kabadayi is "rowdy" but I'm not absolutely sure of that since it holds some cultural meaning in Turkey too. Nowadays, we all know the mafia is everywhere. They do all the dirty business, drug dealing, blackmailing and so on. But in the old times, they were guys who were called Kabadayi. Those guys were big brothers of the neighborhood, they "solve" the problems among people in their own way but they were honest and kind. They also support the poor and the weak.
You might call them sort of Robin Hood (that is actually mentioned in the movie ironically).
Ali Osman (played by Sener Sen) is a Kabadayi. He's old now, taking care of his legal business but still helping the poor and sometimes getting together with old mates who were kabadayis once. They chat and have jokes about good old days. Ali Osman recently suffering from short-time memory losses. He knows his and his friend's time has passed.
One day he learns that his love of life Afet(played by Selma Kutlu) is in deathbed. He hasn't seen her for years but never forgot her. He goes to visit her to learn surprise of a lifetime. She tells Ali Osman that he's got a son from her that he never know.
She never told him that before, because when they were in love Ali Osman was actually married to another woman (whom later died and Ali Osman also lost his other son from his wife - Ali Osman considers all these loses as a punishment of god because he did so many bad things in the past). Afet didn't want to disturb Ali Osman's family life. When she learned her pregnancy, AliOsman was in jail, she didn't visit him and they never seen each other afterwords. Afet raised her son and told him that his father is Surmeli(played by RasimOztekin) who is actually a gay man who was Afet's helper when she was a famous singer.
Ali Osman goes and finds his son Murat(played by Ismail Hacioglu) and tells him that "I'm your father your mom just told me that and now she is dying". But Murat is denying his mother and doesn't want to see her let alone his "new" father. He's working at a bar/night club as a DJ together with his amazingly beautiful girlfriend Karaca(played by Asli Tandogan).
Here we're introduced to villain: Devran (played by Kenan Imirzalioglu). This guy is a full featured modern mafia. Drug dealing, blackmailing and taking tribute from nightclubs is his business. We later learn that he's actually serving to much bigger "boss" while playing double-sided with secret service. The nightclub that Murat works is one of places which Devran wants to take. But real trouble is that Devran loves Murat's girlfriend Karaca like crazy. This love is the key of the movie actually.
Devran tries everything to get Karaca, will Murat cope with that, is there a last clash waiting for Ali Osman before he leaves the "underground world" ?
Well I'm not going to tell you the whole story line by line here, I just wanted to give you sense of it. This is actually ground building parts of the movie. Later on it develops quickly and give you as much action as drama.
I like the movie mainly because it never makes you think "hey this is stupid, why he/she did that ?? pointless....".
It's plot is very well written. Nothing more nothing less. Characters are quite believable. Cast and acting is awesome. The movie never tries to hide anything and reveal it later to shock you or something like that, you just watch it and enjoy it. At first it looks like a cliché story but it is very well suited to Turkey's life style and doesn't look awkward. There is even very nice sense of humor placed smartly in the movie piece by piece. Sener Sen (Ali Osman) giving another great performance supporting cast deserves real appreciation too.
One could argue that there are very few battle/skirmish scenes as a mafia story (I should have said Kabadayi movie - you'll know why when you watch it). And those scenes are not "emphasized". I mean guns, shooting scenes and blasts could have been much better. The quality of these scenes actually reminded me Eskiya, another great movie also featured Sener Sen and Yavuz Turgul. I think director and story writer didn't want the action scenes to steal the movie. That's why those scenes are not very strong except the last slamming scene (pls see: Osmanli Tokadi).
Camera man's work is above the average but at some scenes we see a little bit of raw lighting. Editing is OK, long runtime is not a problem here.
Story telling is flawless. At no point I lost the story line or felt bored. If you push it hard you can find some small holes like how on earth you cut someone's throat and even one drop of blood doesn't splash on you suit?
The movie delves into mafia, torture at jails, politicians's corruption even the secret service's work. At the end of the movie we learn some interesting stuff like what has driven Devran so out of his mind and he is just the outcome of what have done to him.
If you have chance to see it, don't miss.
Thank you everyone who made or contributed to this movie.