Ayla: The Daughter of War

19 December 2023

The Turkish Embassy together with the Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in Pretoria and the Johannesburg based Yunus Emre Institute collaborated in hosting  the screening of the Turkish film, ‘Ayla: The Daughter of War’ at the KCC precinct to commemorate Türkiye’s 100 year anniversary.

Turkish Ambassador to South Africa, Ayşegül Kandaş, introducing guests to the film spoke about the selflessness of the Turkish soldiers who fought to secure freedom and democracy on the Korean peninsula.  She said that the Turkish troops provided shelter to the Korean children who had lost their families in the tragic war and later established a school called Ankara to provide preliminary education for those children. The school lasted even after the war.

In many ways, Türkiye and South Korea are two countries which people would generally not associate with each other. They are not very close geographically, they are not the most culturally similar countries, the language isn’t the same, but “Ayla: The Daughter of War”, a film released in 2017, shows how we are all related by our humanity on each end of the globe. The movie, based on the true story of the Turkish soldier, Sergeant Süleyman and the 5-year old Korean girl, Ayla, was directed by Turkish director, Can Ulkay, and stars İsmail Hacıoğlu and Kim Seol.

The film follows a Turkish soldier who served under the UN command during the 1950-1953 Korean War. In doing this he leaves behind the life he knows, along with the love of his life. He plans to serve his time and return home. While in Korea, him and his unit find the ruins of a town after a raid, and among the remnants they find a little girl, seemingly the only survivor, by the light of the moon. This little girl complicates the life of Süleyman, as well as his unit.

This movie has a timeless showing of the humanity behind the war. The unromanticised version of war as a life lived by real people, stood out. The score of the film was very dramatic, but beautiful and well represented the different regions in which the film was set. Rather than trying to push an agenda, the film showed the beautiful relationship between humans regardless of things like cultural upbringing. Humanity transcends borders. This being said, the film, while heart-warming is not without its more poignant moments. The movie is well-balanced with comedy and heartfelt moments and more serious and dramatic elements of the story.

This movie will have you on a gentle rollercoaster from laughing out loud all the way to wiping tears from your face, and it is all done with tact and taste. It truly took just sitting back and watching the story unfold to relate to the emotions of these characters. It does not require a lot of thought or context to understand this beautiful story.

The movie was released in Türkiye in 2017 and won the Best Foreign Film and Best of Fest awards in 2018 at the Sedona International Film Festival held in the United States.

Preceding the screening,  guests were entertained by a music band of Korean experts in South Africa and the Yunus Emre Institute exhibited drawings, paintings and photographs of the Korean War and the film Ayla.