Son Akın

Last Raid (Son Akın) (translated)

Movie · 1982 · 4 people

In 1982 Yılmaz Atadeniz directed the Turkish film Son Akın (Last Raid). Counted as a war, historical, epic and adventure picture, it was shot in colour on 35 mm and runs 85 minutes. It adapts a novel by Bekir Büyükarkın and stars Cüneyt Arkın. It is one of two films Atadeniz made the same year with the same cast; the other is Kanije Kalesi.

The story tells how an akıncı bey, a frontier raider chief, and his son defend Kanije Castle. Cüneyt Arkın plays Mehmet (Koca Memil), Muhterem Nur plays Haççe Ana, Berhan Şimşek plays Kara Murat, Pembe Mutlu plays Ayşegül, Lütfü Seyfullah plays Telli Hasan Paşa and Yavuz Selekman plays Durmuş. The cast also includes Berrin Tuncel, Ata Saka, Tuncer Necmioğlu, Baykal Kent (the torturer) and Reşit Çıldam (the innkeeper).

Turgut Özakman wrote the screenplay, as he did for Kanije Kalesi. The producers are Kadir Kesemen and İbrahim Kesemen, and the production company is Dadaş Film. Ali Uğur is the cinematographer. Esen Günay dubs Cüneyt Arkın and Alev Koral dubs Muhterem Nur, and Yaman Okay dubs Yavuz Selekman.

DirectorYılmaz Atadeniz
Production companyDadaş Film

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Cast

Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Seeing Cüneyt Arkın as a raider chief is a sweet memory for anyone fond of the cinemas of the early eighties. Turgut Özakman's screenplay and Bekir Büyükarkın's novel give the story a firm literary footing. Cüneyt Arkın speaking in Esen Günay's voice will sound very familiar to audiences of those years; the dubbing tradition is part and parcel of this film. A father and son defending the same castle gives the story an emotional core. Its closeness to Kanije Kalesi, shot the same year with the same cast, can make the two films hard to tell apart, though.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

Cüneyt Arkın, frontier raiders and a castle under siege: on paper, a full-blown adventure film. The 85-minute running time keeps the pace from sagging much, too. But remember it is from 1982; for eyes used to today's fight choreography and effects, the battle scenes may look quite dated. If you are curious about this era of Turkish adventure cinema, it is a fun way in.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Son Akın summons the raiders' world on the Ottoman-Hungarian frontier through place names such as Esztergom, Kanizsa, the Kulpa and the Rába. An akıncı chief and his son defending Kanizsa Castle brings out the bonds of family and loyalty in the border marches. But the film is a novel adaptation rather than a historical record, and it follows the patterns of the heroic cinema of its day. Characters and events seem drawn more in an epic mood than with historical detail, which makes it less a history lesson than a document of how 1980s Türkiye liked to tell its past.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

Reviews (0)

Log in Log in to write a review.

Comments