Ayla: The Daughter of War

Ayla: The Daughter of War is a Turkish drama set during the Korean War. In 1950, Sergeant Süleyman, serving with the Turkish brigade sent to Korea as part of the United Nations forces, finds a young Korean girl collapsed and near death in the cold, with no family and no one to care for her. He takes her into his unit's base to keep her safe, and because they share no language he gives her the name Ayla. A bond forms between the soldier and the child, and her presence brings comfort to the men around her even as the fighting continues. When the war ends and the brigade is ordered home, Süleyman tries to take her with him, but he is eventually forced to leave her in an orphanage, holding on to the hope that they will meet again.

The film is directed by Can Ulkay from a screenplay by Yiğit Güralp, and it was the first feature he directed. İsmail Hacıoğlu plays the younger Süleyman, with Çetin Tekindor as the older Süleyman and Kim Seol as Ayla, among a credited cast of thirty-six. Made on a budget of about four million dollars, it earned roughly twenty-one million worldwide, a strong return for a Turkish production. It holds an 8.3 rating on IMDb from more than 42,000 votes and an 8 on TMDB from a much smaller sample, suggesting lasting appreciation from a broad audience.