Valley of the Wolves
Valley of the Wolves is a Turkish media franchise created by Osman Sınav, which has been very popular obtaining high ratings for the television series and one of the highest box office returns in the history of the Turkish cinema for the first film.
Production history
Valley of the Wolves is the original series created by Osman Sınav, which followed a Turkish intelligence agent working under the assumed identity of Polat Alemdar attempting to infiltrate the Turkish mafia. It ran for 97 episodes from 2003 to 2005.''Valley of the Wolves: Iraq''
Valley of the Wolves: Iraq is a controversial 2006 spin-off film directed by Serdar Akar, which follows Polat Alemdar and his team as they go to northern Iraq during the Occupation of Iraq to avenge the death of Turkish soldiers. Its perceived anti-Americanism and anti-semitism generated interest among American and European media and other organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League. It went on general release across Turkey on and was one of the highest grossing Turkish film of 2006.''Valley of the Wolves: Terror''
Valley of the Wolves: Terror is a short-lived spin-off television series, which followed Polat Alemdar in his attempts to infiltrate Kurdish separatist militant networks in Turkey. The first episode of the program aired on the night of February 8, 2007 and earned considerable ratings, but the political reflection of the painful issues of Turkey and the violence shown in the first episode triggered a harsh response from RTÜK. As a result, the series was cancelled after its first episode, creating a controversy about censorship in Turkey.''Valley of the Wolves: Ambush''
Valley of the Wolves: Ambush is the current spin-off television series, which was launched by Pana Film some time after the cancellation of the previous series, and has been running on Show TV since April 20, 2007. It has not faced any responses from RTÜK yet and it attracts high ratings.The new series deal with the relations between the state, mafia, business circles, and the deep state phenomenon in Turkey. According to the plot, Polat Alemdar decides to wage a vigilante struggle against four powerful Turkish families that control the national economy, helping Ahu Toros, a young businesswoman who lost her father in a conspiracy by the said families. Polat Alemdar's biggest rival is "Alexander the Great", who trails him at all times. Polat marries Ebru Duru and lives happily, but things take a turn for the worse in the ensuing episodes. The two other protagonists are Memati and Abdülhey. Memati is a former specialized Mafia but now Memati is converted into a good person with a brave heart and a patriot like Polat, he always follows Polat's orders. Abdülhey is like Polat, an agent working for Turkey intelligence and serving his country like a real patriot.
The main antagonist arrives after the third season and is named Aron Feller, an ex agent of CIA and working in Turkey. İskender Büyük is considered like an anti-hero, instead of Aron Feller being the main antagonist. After a long fight-relation against İskender Büyük, Polat finally manages to kill his main enemy İskender Büyük, but he loses his wife Ebru and his little daughter is taken by Aron Feller to be raised as a Christian in the USA. After the death of İskender Büyük, Polat and his team are facing a new wage of enemies, they try to fight against Kurdish terrorism, by the same time a new character appears, his name is Ersoy Ulubey, Ersoy wants to take the deep state of Turkey by the "force". His methods are : terrorism and many relations with big familie leaders like Haşim Ağa, İzzet Ağa, Yaşar Ağa etc. He creates a secret fraternity to take upon Turkey, but Polat and his team must now take him down. By the same time, Polat keeps his relations with the "İhtiyarlar", they give him new missions and Polat is chosen as the "protector" of Turkey. After many episodes Polat kills Ersoy and the main antagonist Aron Feller, by this way almost destroying "Gladio". Through upcoming episodes Süleyman Çakır's family returns after 10 years and new character "Kara" is being introduced, he was the "old" Polat Alemdar before Polat Alemdar, he too worked for the "İhtiyarlar". As the series goes on, many new characters are making appearance such as; Beyefendi, Mete Ağır, Memduh Baba, Şeref Zazaoğlu, Mete Aymar etc. In the episode 161 Memati is killed by a mysterious group, the "white elder" of the İhtiyarlar is killed too by the same mysterious group. Polat and his friends are in shock after Memati's death, they are lost and they cannot take his revenge. The İhtiyarlar must now choose a new "white elder", so Adil Eşrefoğlu is chosen, Adil Bey is the brother of Doğu Eşrefoğlu, Adil, Doğu and Aslan Akbey were the ones who created the secret mission : Kurtlar Vadisi. After this Polat had to deal with Adil Bey. Adil Bey tells him everything about his past and he also tells him, that he used to be like Polat in his youth services. He says that he formed with his brother Dogu Bey the created KGT, he also tells Polat that he was the one who "formed" Aslan Akbey. Later, it turned out that Sencer, one of the Elders, was the mastermind behind the murders of Memati Baş and the former white-elder. Sencer and Adil Eşrefoğlu were later executed by the order of the Elders. A new youth team comes in Turkey to help Polat to finish his mission : Kurtlar Vadisi. After that, all of the Elders were executed, as they are revealed. Polat said to one of his helpers to kill himself because he had some secrets and he meant that if he killed himself, it would be the best for the state.
''Muro: Damn the Humanist Inside''
Muro: Damn the Humanist Inside is a 2008 spin-off film, directed by Zübeyr Şaşmaz, starring Mustafa Üstündağ and Şefik Onatoğlu as two revolutionaries recently released from prison, who stumble across an illegal organization run by a former friend. The film, which went on general release across Turkey on, is the third highest-grossing Turkish film of 2008.''Valley of the Wolves: Gladio''
Valley of the Wolves: Gladio is a 2009 spin-off film directed by Sadullah Şentürk, which follows retired security intelligence agent Iskender Buyuk as he decides to strike back against his one-time employers by revealing all he knows about Gladio. "It addresses Turkey’s years-long adventure with the deep state and illegal formations nested within the state" and "aims to provide an opportunity for movie fans to closely look at the 'deep gangs' that attempted to stir and divide Turkey with subversive plots," according to Betül Akkaya Demirbaş in Today's Zaman. It went on general release across Turkey on and was the fifth highest grossing Turkish film of 2009.''Valley of the Wolves: Palestine''
Valley of the Wolves: Palestine is a 2011 spin-off film directed by Zübeyr Şaşmaz, which follows Polat Alemdar and his team as they go to Israel to track and bring down the Israeli military commander who planned and put into force an attack on a Gaza aid flotilla.Cultural impact
"Kurtlar Vadisi became an instant hit with its references to Turkish politics, its unabashed abuse of social sensitivities on patriotism, and with unprecedented scenes of violence that included assassination and torture on television", Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler. "Not unlike John Woo’s Face/Off an undercover Turkish agent goes through a set of plastic surgeries to infiltrate the mafia, along with a gunman who walks surefooted in this muddy underworld", Güler continues, "the two go through ordeals of every kind for Polat to become the next baron so that he can break them apart." "The hype eventually got so big that the final episodes featured Andy Garcia as the big American mafia boss and Sharon Stone as his wife, eventually lending a kiss to our hero."Lead character Polat Alemdar "established in the image of a mafia-macho Turkish guy", according to Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler, and was "admired by the unemployed and frustrated young men all over Turkey". Güler describes him as “the Turkish equivalent of 24’s Jack Bauer, entangled in the deep state, disguised as a mafia boss”. "Short and ordinary looking," according to Güler, "Polat has a self-defined sense of justice that included hanging traitors in the city center of Istanbul." "The series had reached such a cult status that many young men officially changed their names to Polat Alemdar", Güler concludes.
The show has been dubbed into Syrian Arabic dialect and proved one of the most popular Turkish drama to be dubbed into Arabic.